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Trapezium Technologies: Making Traffic Stops Safer

Your Safety. Our Robot.

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Trapezium Technologies: Making Traffic Stops Safer

Trapezium Technologies: Making Traffic Stops Safer

Trapezium Technologies: Making Traffic Stops Safer

Trapezium Technologies: Making Traffic Stops Safer

Trapezium Technologies: Making Traffic Stops Safer

Your Safety. Our Robot.

Your Safety. Our Robot.

Your Safety. Our Robot.

Your Safety. Our Robot.

Vaib Tadepalli
Vaib Tadepalli
Vaib Tadepalli
Vaib Tadepalli
1 Campaign |
Durham, United States
$516 USD 11 backers
6% of $7,500 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal
Overview
We want to make sure that no one, neither police officer nor motorist, feels that their life is in danger during a traffic stop.

Our Motivation

There is currently no means to ensure the safety of an officer and a motorist during a traffic stop. This is a problem that was made painfully clear through the shootings of Philando Castile and Michael Flamion this past summer.

Unfortunately, these shootings are only the tip of an iceberg. During 2015 alone, over 100 individuals were fatally shot during traffic stops. According to the FBI, between 2000 and 2012, 127 police officers have been killed and 72,413 have been assaulted during traffic stops. Statistics like these help reinforce exactly why routine traffic stops are stressful and sometimes deadly situations for motorists and law enforcement officers alike.

We don’t believe that this status quo is acceptable. That’s what motivated us to develop and build the Sentinel Robotic System.

Sentinel Robotic System 

Features

- 170° HD Camera for 2-way video communication and  incident recording

- Driver's license scanner and digital ticketing capabilities

- Software to automatically populate driver's license information into incident reporting form

- Seven-foot lift can reach some of the highest windows on the road

- High-visibility police lighting

- Semi-autonomous all wheel drive allows easy operation in any weather 

- Sensor array capable of detecting alcohol and THC at the same sensitivity as a police officer - no more, no less

The exoskeleton of this robot was designed using 3D modeling and printed using fused deposition modeling (FDM) - in other words - 3D printing. We also designed this robot to be modular, so that it could be easily modified to meet the needs of each law enforcement agency. This also makes repair turnarounds much faster.

The result is a robotic system that is robust and adaptable and can be produced at a much lower cost compared to conventional fabrication techniques. Below are images of the 3D printers used to create this exoskeleton as well as images of the individual pieces during fabrication.

The robot assembly was completed with simplicity in mind. Most military and law enforcement robotics are complex machines that require expert robotics and mechanics knowledge. We wanted our system to easily maintained in the event of a failure in the field.

Not Just Another Military Police Robot

Just as important as what we choose to include is what we choose to leave off. Here at Trapezium, we do not believe that military robots can be effectively re-purposed for community policing. That's why the Sentinel has been designed from the ground up to serve purely as a law enforcement tool. The Sentinel does not carry any lethal or non-lethal weapons and we promise to keep it that way.

Our Progress So Far

In the seven months we have been working on this we've made tremendous progress towards our dream. From conception to prototype, the Sentinel VX1 has gone through 4 major iterations (earliest to most recent, clockwise from top right).

We designed this robot with feedback from police officers. They continuously provide us with invaluable suggestions about what would be useful in the field and we put their input into each iteration. 

Our Dream and How You Can Help

We began developing this project with the hope that our efforts might be able to save a life. If we can prevent even a single violent encounter from occurring we will feel that the Sentinel has served its purpose.  

We’ve built several prototypes and with each successive iteration have gotten closer to a product that could be deployed in the real world. But we need your help. When we started this project we pooled together our personal funds to build the first prototype. We’ve been fortunate enough to find a small sponsor who shared our vision and were awarded a small grant to help us continue our work, but with this prototype, we’ve reached the limits of what we can personally fund. In order to build the Sentinel that can be deployed to help save lives, we need to raise additional capital.

The $7,500 we are raising will go directly towards building and testing a fully functional prototype with all the features we need to have the impact we would like. If you believe in this as much as we do, we would love to have you along for the ride.

Other Ways You Can Help

We understand that sometimes you just can’t contribute, but if you believe in this as much as we do, there are other ways that you can help!

  • Help share this Indiegogo campaign with your friends and coworkers!
  • Help us get the word out
  • If this is something you would like to see implemented in your community or your police department, reach out and contact us here. Once we build our fully-functional prototype we will reach out to these police departments and invite them to demo our product.
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Choose your Perk

Sentinel Supporter

$1 USD
Any contribution goes a long way in helping us achieve this dream. We would like to recognize all of our backers on our Official Sponsor list on our website. If you'd like to keep up with our progress, leave us your email and we will keep you updated.
Included Items
  • Sentinel Supporter
0 claimed

Thank You!

$10 USD
We want you to know that we appreciate your help with this project. To show you our gratitude we will send you a personalized thank you note signed by our entire team.
Included Items
  • Sentinel Supporter
  • Thank You Note
2 claimed

Trapezium Flair

$25 USD
Get one of our Trapezium Technologies stickers to put on your laptop, water bottle or any other flat surface!
Included Items
  • Sentinel Supporter
  • Thank You Note
  • Trapezium Sticker
1 claimed

Trapezium "Software"

$50 USD
You can now show your support for the Sentinel where ever you go with a Trapezeium Technologies T-shirt!
Included Items
  • Sentinel Supporter
  • Thank You Note
  • T-Shirt
1 out of 100 of claimed
Ships to United States of America

Trapezium "Hardware"

$100 USD
While you can't get a full-sized Sentinel to take home with you, we can provide the next best thing - a desktop model! This 3-D printed model is a scale replica of the real Sentinel Robotic System and is even manufactured on the same printers!
Included Items
  • Sentinel Supporter
  • Thank You Note
  • Sentinel Desktop Model
1 out of 50 of claimed
Ships worldwide.

Part of the Prototype

$500 USD
Get your name laser-cut onto the side of the next version of the prototype that we develop. Every time we demo it everyone will know that you helped make this prototype a reality.
Included Items
  • Laser Etching on Prototype
0 claimed

Name A Sentinel

$1,000 USD
Once we start producing Sentinels we want each robot to have its own, unique name. You would have a chance to name one of the first 7 robots that come off of the assembly line!
Included Items
  • Name A Sentinel
0 out of 7 of claimed

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