Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are finding use in a lot of applications. Many use cases of AMRs have centered around using AMRs to sort and move objects, be it in warehouses or hospitals, but AMRs can also be used in patrol applications. AMRs have started to gain a lot of use for security and surveillance activities where the AMRs patrol a facility to check for intruders and other potential threats.
Robots have been used in many security and surveillance operations but have typically been involved in a passive capacity. Many autonomous surveillance systems within homes, commercial premises and industrial facilities rely on robotics, but now AMRs are evolving robotic surveillance by taking a more active approach to dealing with threats—by triggering alarms, tracking potential security issues and even using tactics to deter potential intruders.
AMRs contain cameras and other sensing technologies that allow them to continuously survey their local area, and advanced AI and communication technologies allow AMRs to localize themselves within a facility to understand where they are located at all times. The ability to move and detect potential security threats means that AMRs can patrol the inside and outside of a facility and communicate any potential threats to on-duty security staff inside a security control room—with videos and data being continuously transmitted during AMR operation.
ADVERTISING
There are many environments where security AMRs can be used—either by themselves, with other AMRs, and with human personnel. Some of these environments where AMRs can improve security include:
Partner Content
View All
Next Level Inductive Sensing for Sleek Metallic HMI
Next Level Inductive Sensing for Sleek Metallic HMI
By Vibheesh Bharathan and Josef Bartolof 03.19.2025
A New Solution for Faster and Better Defect Detection
A New Solution for Faster and Better Defect Detection
By Gangadharan Sivaraman, Director of Product Marketing, Optical Patterned Wafer Inspection, Applied Materials 03.17.2025
32G UCIe Silicon on TSMC 3nm and CoWoS Technology
32G UCIe Silicon on TSMC 3nm and CoWoS Technology
By GLOBAL UNICHIP CORP. (GUC) 03.13.2025
Theme parks and museums at night
Manufacturing and warehousing facilities
Hospitals and other medical facilities
University Campuses
Gated communities
Apartment and condo complexes
Electric power generation plants, substations, and solar PV farms
Data centers
Open drinking water reservoirs
Airports, land borders, and maritime terminals
Indoor surveillance
There is an increasing need for automated indoor surveillance within production and manufacturing plants, warehouses and airports. There have already been a lot of advancements made in surveillance technology and the next large-scale disruptor technology is AMRs due to their mobility across large areas and advanced intelligence to report on events. AMRs are still being developed for many security applications, but their wider implantation will help facilities, homes and businesses reduce the number of surveillance devices needed to cover a site.
Inside a facility, AMRs can move about freely using their localization and mapping technology to look for potential security threats, identify abandoned objects (and objects that might represent a security threat), recognize people and identify if a person should not be there (i.e. an intruder instead of an employee), watch over valuable objects, and provide human security guards with up-to-date information on the safety of the facility.
When it comes to security and surveillance, we often think of human related threats, but AMRs can also be used to look for more environmental security issues, such as floods and fires. For human-related security issues, AMRs can possess speech recognition and speech synthesis software to directly interact with intruders to deter them.
While a lot of the advanced AMRs are being trialed more robustly in commercial and government facilities, there are simpler AMRs being developed for use within our homes. Residential AMRs are easy to deploy and often connect with the home’s Wi-Fi network to communicate if any issues arise. This can include potential security threats but also other immediate response events, such as emergency health issues inside the home.
Outdoor surveillance
There have been numerous AMRs developed that can patrol outdoor spaces within a facility, including open ground spaces, on roofs and along fence/boundary lines. They are used to monitor facilities in urban environments, in remote locations and in dangerous locations that are privy to crime. Given that many security threats happen at night, the thermal and low-light infrared motion cameras integrated into AMRs enable them to provide round-the-clock security—and are particularly valuable during long night shifts where human security guards can suffer from fatigue.
During the day and night, AMRs can perform a range of security related tasks to protect facilities, including scanning the perimeter and grounds for intruders, performing automatic license plate recognition of any vehicles and identifying any blacklisted license plates, using thermal imaging to scan people and parcels entering the facility, detect if a person has unauthorized access (to detect if any terminated employees or persons with criminal trespass warnings are trying to gain access to the facility), and use an audible siren or flashing strobe to deter intruders. Like indoor AMRs, outdoor AMRs can also scan for potential environmental security risks, such as gas leaks in above ground and underground pipelines.
There are also interesting use cases within commercial enterprises where AMRs have found some niche use beyond conventional security operations. For example, AMRs are being used in the agricultural sector to protect farmlands from pests and to scare away birds from orchards and cultivated fields. Another example is in areas where mosquito-borne diseases—Zika, malaria, dengue—are prevalent. In these areas, AMRs are being equipped with mosquito nets to prevent the spread of these diseases and to protect the health of employees.
When it comes to residential AMRs, they do have some use inside the home, but as most security threats come from the outside, AMRs are much more efficient when used outside of the home to prevent threats before they become an actual issue (i.e. AMRs can be best utilized in the home to be preventative of security threats rather than reactive).
The main function of residential AMRs is to track and detect human intrusions to the premises (or community) and generate real-time alerts around the clock to the owners of the residential land/house. Given that many potential intrusions are going to be geared around theft, AMRs often contain safeguarding features to prevent their removal from the ground—which stops them from being stolen.
While AMRs have long battery lives, constant surveillance takes a lot of power, so AMRs cannot be used to constantly actively patrol throughout the night. In commercial facilities, there are often fleets of AMRs that work in unison, so when one goes off to charge itself, another will continue the surveillance operations. This is not really feasible for residential environments (due to both a space and cost perspective).
AMRs take a different approach in external residential environments. They will remain idle and still for large periods of time, monitoring people (and their faces) using their sensors. When a person is identified by the sensors, the AMRs switch to tracking mode. If a human motion is identified, they then switch to patrol mode. The AMR then takes an image of the face of any moving person and compares them with a database of images. If the face is familiar, the AMR continues patrolling. If an intruder is detected, a phone call alert is sent to the owner of the house to pre-emptively warn them, just in case. After a pre-determined time of patrolling, if no potential threats are identified, the AMRs will return to a low-power idle state.
AI rendition of industrial robotics specialists working on a mobile robot, which can be used to improve security and surveillance.
The beauty of AMRs is that the many areas of security and surveillance applications all use different types of AMRs. (Source: Adobe Stock)
Border security
As well as commercial business premises and residential buildings, AMRs can be used in border security operations. This includes sea borders, land borders and border force personnel inside airports. A range of AMRs are being developed to cover the many types of borders that exist today, including aerial, water surface, underwater and land vehicle AMRs.
At different borders, AMRs can be used to identify different threats and criminal behavior at the border, including detecting explosive substances and potentially toxic substances, illegal trafficking (human, drugs etc.), potential acts of terrorism, and general aspects of crime that do not fall into these specific categories. Overall, AMRs are being used to strengthen the security at different borders through more efficient border management and threat detection.
There are also interesting AMRs emerging in border security that are not your traditional AMR. For example, the U.K. government has developed Maritime Autonomy Surface Testbed (MAST) vessels, which are unmanned boats. These MAST-13 stealth boats can be classed as AMRs as they can be fully autonomous and unmanned (and mobile at sea) and are being tested by the U.K. border force. These boats can be used in either a semi-autonomous or fully autonomous capacity and are used to identify potential threats at sea borders/close to the border, such as hostile ships, and collect intelligence on any ships coming towards the border.
These ships are also being tested for military and defense operations when the U.K. Royal Navy is on a mission, including protecting the Royal Navy ships from threats like enemy ships and mines, as well as for collecting information on other vessels in the vicinity of the fleet. These AMRs have already shown the capability to safeguard the Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigate HMS Argyll in harbor force protection operations.
Final thoughts
While not a widely described use case of AMRs compared to warehouse logistics and distribution, the ability for AMRs to sense their environment in both daytime and low-light conditions makes them an effective security asset for aiding human security guards in commercial facilities. The versatility of AMRs is also showcased in this area, because beyond commercial and industrial facilities, AMRs are finding use in home security, border security and in the military/defense sector for advanced surveillance and security details on a mission. The beauty of AMRs is that the many areas of security and surveillance applications all use different types of AMRs—and then the AMRs used in other industries are different still—showing how versatile AMRs can be for many aspects of society today.