A security robot (or “robot cop,” as some are calling it) has committed suicide. OK, so not really; more than likely, the device, which was found face-down in a fountain, couldn’t properly navigate stairs and met its watery demise.
As The Guardian reports, the Knightscope K5 bot was designed to function as a sort-of “extra set of eyes,” for lack of a better choice of words, for flesh-and-blood police officers. With sophisticated cameras, microphones, and other sensing technology, as well as magnificent computing power, the device was intended to give cops an edge on fighting crime in malls, office buildings, and other indoor spaces.
For example, according to the manufacturer’s website , the bot can notice anything untoward happening and send the information to human cops in real time. Further, their mere presence acts as something of a criminal deterrent. After all, are you not going to be on your best behavior when a being with Artificial Intelligence is stalking about among you?
Nevertheless, the “intelligence” of the K5 is limited, as workers at the Washington, D.C. office block, Georgetown Harbor, found out. Workers found the device face-down in a fountain, the victim of an apparent robot suicide.
Our D.C. office building got a security robot. It drowned itself.
We were promised flying cars, instead we got suicidal robots. pic.twitter.com/rGLTAWZMjn
— Bilal Farooqui (@bilalfarooqui) July 17, 2017
That’s right: for all of its technological advancements and the promise of artificial intelligence, the bot was defeated by steps and a fountain.
A preschooler would have known better.
Steps are our best defense against the Robopocalypse
(Security robot down at Georgetown harbor) pic.twitter.com/eVf7YUJX1j
— Peter W. Singer (@peterwsinger) July 17, 2017
The K5’s tragic drowning raises some legitimate questions about the future of artificial intelligence, particularly when it comes to AI devices sharing space with us flesh-and-blood humans. For example, if a security bot can be undone by a fountain, what does that say about the future of driverless cars?
Not for nothing, this is not the first time a K5 has run into trouble (so to speak).
As KGO (San Francisco) reported at the time, a K5 deployed in Mountain View, California, was sidelined by a drunk dude with an attitude problem.
Meet K-5 —the droid taken down by an alleged drunk man last week. Don’t worry, he’s back on patrol ? details @abc7newsbayarea at 11 pic.twitter.com/0qthDHONQq
— Tiffany Wilson (@TWilsonTV) April 25, 2017
And as Huffington Post reported in 2016, a K5 robot weighing 300 pounds ran over a toddler at a California shopping center. The child suffered only scrapes and bruises.
[Featured Image by Ken Conley | Flickr | Cropped and Resized | CC BY-SA 2.0 ]
