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Through the tunnels are 24 automated guided vehicles or agvs. around here, the they're more commonly referred to as robots. >> they transport thousands of meals, tons of laundry and countless supplies throughout a jail facility that's a half a mile in length and a quarter mile in width. while the system appears futuristic, it's actually more than two decades old. and was nearly doomed from the beginning. >> the company that installed the system went bankrupt after they installed it here at santa rita jail. so we went ahead and hired on some of their engineers and maintenance people and all the...

But technically they are automatically guided vehicles or agv. >> they deliver food and supplies and clothing and linens to the housing units. a half mile fence to fence so it would take a lot of inmate labor and deputies to supervise the inmates to transport the items to out knit to the robots do it for us. they are the only facility that i know that actually has this kind of system. it runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. >> the agvs utilize a wire guided navigation system built into two miles of track running between all of the jailhousing units and service areas. a series of sensors and inf...

Away. they are powered by nickel mad me yum batteries. >> they get a charge and go out for one service around the jail and then return to the battery area for a quick charge, usually about three minutes and it is ready to go. we deliver about 12,000 meals a day. a custom design designed specifically for the sheriff's department and they are designed in this shape so they food underneath the food carts. >> this is how the meals are brought to us. >> some inmates even foresee a day when robots might just replace other common fixtures at the jail. >> pretty soon they will have robots popping us o...

Unlike most large urban jails that are located in the heart of downtown, santa rita is nestled among foothills. some 30 miles away from the tough oakland streets where most of its inmates were taken into custody. mornings here often begin shrouded in pacific coast fog and then something else that makes this place unique slowly breaks through -- the jail's robotic workforce. >> a lot of inmates will look at them. and the first thing they ask is, are at the a coffin? >> when i first saw that, it actually scared me. i thought they was shipping bodies out of here. i thought i was going to get kill...

>> no, i don't think so. >> with silicon valley only 40 miles to the southwest, not everyone in santa rita is awed by the agvs. >> i wouldn't classify them as robots. i would classify them as pushers. they push carts from point a to point b. it's not a big deal, not gps technology. it's kind of robbie the robot. i'm from a tech industry. so i mean, i've seen google earth gps driven vans drive around with no drivers in them. it's kind of a no comparison. >> before his arrest, cort holbrook worked as a software engineer and couldn't imagine spending two years at santa rita, much less facing the ...