If you live in an Atlanta apartment complex, the person walking the parking lot at 2 a.m. might not be a person at all. Some Atlanta properties have started swapping overnight security guards for robot dogs.
At 445 Cleveland Apartments in southwest Atlanta, two four-legged robots now patrol the property after the leasing office closes. They roll through parking lots and common areas, greet residents, and approach anyone who looks like they don’t belong. The complex used to pay for two or three guards to cover those same overnight and weekend shifts.
How the robots actually work
The robots aren’t operating alone. A human is watching through the robot’s cameras at all times. That person can talk directly to whoever the robot approaches through a built-in speaker. Property owner Avi Wolf has compared the setup to controlling a video game character. The difference is the person on the other end is a trained security operator, not a player.
The company behind the system, an Atlanta startup called Undaunted, says its robots can reach any spot on a property in about 60 seconds. They also connect to dozens of fixed cameras already on-site. In one case this past May, a robot helped Atlanta police track a break-in suspect at a Columbia Residential property. Officers arrived and made an arrest.
Founder and CEO Bryan Dinner says the setup runs at roughly half the cost of paying for traditional guards. Reports put the monthly price around $3,000 to $6,000 per property, depending on the package. Undaunted has expanded to nearly 90 robots across metro Atlanta. Clients include apartment communities, construction sites, and at least one hotel.
Property managers say the arrangement also protects guards themselves. Standing alone in a dark parking lot to confront a group of strangers is dangerous work. A machine can close that distance instead.
What to watch out for
The trade-off is privacy. These robots are mobile cameras that can follow people, record audio, and enter shared spaces. That raises different questions than a fixed camera bolted to a wall. The ACLU of Georgia has pushed back on the broader trend of autonomous surveillance tools showing up in everyday life.
If you’re renting in Atlanta, it’s worth asking your property manager a few questions. Where do the robots go? What do they record, and how long is footage kept? Lease agreements and local privacy rules vary property to property, so the answer isn’t the same everywhere.