Crime-fighting robots with access to citizen databases will be patrolling the streets by 2084, according to an academic at the University of Sheffield.

Robotics expert Professor Noel Sharkey predicts that humanoid robots, that are able to arrest people, will have access to integrated databases of information on British citizens, including bank accounts, tax and movements, to enable them to identify who people are.

The “superior knowledge robots” will, according to Sharkey, be able to use their “super strength and inability to feel pain” to arrest criminals.

They will have human features and will be able to detect weapons including guns, knives and explosives, and recognise drunks and aggressive behaviour in large areas.

By 2070, police will also have the aid of autonomous police cars, which will be able to recognise speeding cars, identify license plates and automatically take fines from bank accounts and add points on driving licences.

The project examined the future of the robot in the UK and how it will be developed to aid police. The research was based on recent robotic developments around the world, and on current ideas and trends from robotics experts.

IFPI complains The music industry has said that while it has started making money from music downloading, more than 90 percent of downloaded music is illegal.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, or IFPI, said record companies’ revenue from digital music sales rose 40 per cent to US$2.9 billion over the past year. This growth is not covering losses from collapse of international CD sales, the music industry’s global trade body said.

CD sales fell 11 percent between 2005 and 2006, and were likely to drop further in 2007. Unfortunately, the music industry has been known to inflate the impact of music piracy to almost comedic proportions to plead its cause.