Biofire Tech Develops Smart Pistols With Facial Recognition Technology And Finger Sidik

Biofire Tech accepts orders for smart weapons enabled by facial recognition technology. (photo: twitter @TechWAaron)

JAKARTA - Colorado-based Biofire Tech companies are starting to receive orders for smart weapons enabled by facial recognition technology. This is the latest development in personal weapons that only verifiable users can fire.

However, in the signs that smart weapons were facing a long and heavy road, the prototype failed to be fired when pointed out to Reuters this week. The company's founder and CEO, Kai Kloepfer, said that the software and electronics had been fully tested, and the failure was related to mechanical weapons made of pre-production and prototype parts.

Biofire pistols can also be activated with fingerprint readers, a smart weapon feature designed to avoid child accidental shootings, as well as reduce suicide, protect police from handling firearms, or make lost and stolen weapons useless.

"The first consumer ready-made arms version of a 9mm gun can be sent to customers who pre-order as soon as possible in the fourth quarter of this year, with a standard model of US$1,499 (Rp22.3 million) probably available in the second quarter of 2024," Biofire said., quoted by Reuters.

This could make Biofire the first commercially available smart weapon in the US since Armatix was sold in 2014. At least two other American companies, LodeStar Works and Free State Firearms, are also trying to bring smart weapons to the market.

During a demonstration at Biofire's headquarters in Venicefield, Colorado, Kloepfer initially fired a bullet without a problem and laid down the weapon. Then a man, an unallowed user, tried to fire a gun but was unable to do so because the weapon did not recognize his face or fingerprints, according to the intended safety features.

Kloepfer kemudian kembali untuk menembakkannya lagi. Pada saat itu, senjata tiba-tiba mengeluarkan suara klik pada dua kesempatan, meskipun senjata itu berhasil membak pada tarik tembaknya selanjutnya. Kemudian protoproto lain dibawa masuk dan senjata itu berfungsi seperti yang direncanakan.

Many gun enthusiasts are skeptical of smart weapons technology. They fear it will fail when weapons are needed to defend themselves in an instant.

"I'm not just building products, but the whole company is about how we build highly reliable products that will always be open at any time you pick them up, and will never be open when your child finds them," Kloepfer said.