It’s called Rosa, and it’s designed to stop gun violence before it happens. And here’s the cool part: the invention wasn’t thought up in Silicon Valley. It’s being made right here in Metro Detroit.
Robotic Assistance Devices in Ferndale has been developing the technology for years, using artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge tools to help detect firearms.
Local 4 is talking about a whole lot more than metal detectors here.
So, all across Metro Detroit, we have people with their hands’ building stuff, doing things with new technology, and that’s exactly what’s happening as they are trying to prevent more school shootings.
Jan. 2018, one of those mass school shootings we’ve long since forgotten in the haze of Oxford and Uvalde, left two Kentucky school children dead.
Secret Holt’s daughter Baily Holt died that day.
Secret Holt looked long and hard for concrete answers on how to stop school shooters, and she believes a Metro Detroit company has that answer.
“I believe with this technology that Steve has introduced (that) it can prevent so much tragedy and chaos for our children and faculty every day.”
“Steve” is Steve Reinharz, whose Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions in Ferndale makes security systems for large employers.
He repurposed existing technology for school systems.
“If I’m walking up with a firearm, people should know about it, and schools should lockdown, and we should get away from the political discourse of red and blue and guns and no guns,” said Reinharz.
Here’s how it works:
Cell phone-based sensors with cameras get posted throughout the school and its parking lots. They scan for what looks like a gun, small or large, and if they spot one, a detection siren rings off with warning signs blaring across its screen. Once that happens, all doors will begin to lock automatically.
“I can say with confidence that 80% of these tragedies could potentially have been reduced or eliminated by spotting the shooter in the parking lot,” Reinharz said.
Reinharz wants schools to get the device right away, so he is giving away 10 systems to schools that apply.
He says he’s starting with 10 with a heavy emphasis on Metro Detroit schools.
He says school districts can apply online here.
