Terrorists in China are facing a new nemesis with a cattle-prod wielding “robo-cop’’ now patrolling Shenzen Boa’am International Airport in the southern province of Guangdong.

The intelligent robot, which is decorated with an impressive police shield and is eerily reminiscent of the Daleks in the BBC science fiction series Dr Who, is the first  in China to be trained to carry out security checks. It began patrolling the airport’s Terminal 3 last month on a round-the-clock basis.

More of the security robots, developed in conjunction with the Shenzen Public Security Bureau and the National University of Defense Technology, have been deployed to patrol ports in China’s southern Guangdong Province.

The 4.9ft (1.5m)  robot sports four high-definition cameras and face recognition technology that can detect suspicious characters and raise an alarm if a suspect is detected.

Images are passed along to back-room security stations where they are analysed by officials.

The robot can recharge itself without human intervention and has a video screen to allow it to communicate with civilians or police officers.

 It can listen, speak and respond to questions in 28 languages and dialects, including questions about flight information.

When confronted by an emergency, the robot has a top speed of  more than 11pmh (18kmh) and can surprise miscreants with sound and light as well as an extendable prod described as  “an electric riot fork’’.

 However, it will be up to one of the back-room humans to decide whether to deploy the electrical stun weapon.

The use of intelligent security robots would ease pressure on airport police in their daily patrols and save human resources, an official told China.org.cn