An AI police robot was unveiled by police to monitor a water splashing festival in Thailand.

The humanoid machine, dubbed by authorities as 'AI Police Cyborg 1.0', was deployed at the Songkran festival venue on Tongson Road in Nakhon Pathom province, seen in the video.

Wearing a black police beret and brown uniform, the 'Robocop' was stationed in the middle of the street, scanning the faces of tourists and locals dousing each other with water under the midday heat on April 16.

The Royal Thai Police (RTP) said the robot was jointly developed by the Provincial Police Region 7, Nakhon Pathom Provincial Police, and the Nakhon Pathom municipality.

They said: 'This Police Cyborg can pull footage from existing CCTV cameras in and around the event, including drones that are flying to provide security, and process them with its AI ​​system.

'The cyborg integrates video from its own cameras with the surrounding footage using video analytics, and is linked directly to the Command and Control Centre for managing the event's security.'

Police said the AI cop is equipped with facial recognition to identify blacklisted individuals, people with arrest warrants, and 'high-risk' visitors who might pose a danger during the celebrations.

They added it has an 'Advanced Search' system that can find people based on physical features such as face, scars, clothing, body shape, and gender, and could also detect weapons, including swords, knives, or sticks.

The Buddhist festival Songkran, which takes place every year from April 13 to April 15, marks the new calendar year in the ancient religion. It originated in India in the 6th century before being taken up by the Hindu-Buddhist Khmer Empire - the predecessor to modern-day Cambodia.

Followers splash each other with water to wash away the sins and bad luck of the past year. Traditionally, young relatives would pour water over the hands and feet of elders as a mark of respect.

However, the once-sedate festival has been commercialised by the avaricious Thai tourism industry and spawned into depraved alcohol-fuelled near-naked water fights across the country's major cities, with hundreds of thousands of tourists joining in the chaos to cool off as temperatures reach 40 degrees Celsius in the hottest month of the year.

Ministers have urged locals not to drink and drive while officials in Bangkok have banned alcohol at its official festival venues due to the rise in road accidents during the period.

There are also criticisms that it wastes water at a time when prolonged droughts are causing peril across the world.