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posted by CoolHand on Tuesday July 18 2017, @08:46PM   Printer-friendly
from the can't-take-it-anymore dept.

The automation revolution, where most of our jobs are replaced by robots and we spend the rest of our days floating around on rubber rings sipping piña coladas, has hit a snag: a Knightscope K5 security bot appears to have fallen down some stairs and drowned itself in a water feature.

The scene, which took place at the mixed-use Washington Harbour development in Washington DC, was captured by Bilal Farooqui on Twitter. One local office worker reported that the K5 robot had only been patrolling the complex for a few days. Knightscope said in a statement that the "isolated incident" was under investigation, and that a new robot would be delivered to Washington Harbour this week for free.

We first wrote about the Dalek-like K5 back in 2014. The first bots were deployed on campuses and shopping complexes near the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California. The company has never disclosed how many robots are on active duty, but this is the first time I've heard of a K5 deployment outside of Silicon Valley.

The K5, which is equipped with lots and lots of sensors, is ostensibly an interesting piece of high-tech kit. It has a 360-degree video camera array, sensitive microphones, air quality sensors, and even thermal imaging capabilities. The cameras can apparently scan up to 1,500 car number plates per minute; the microphones can detect gun shots and other notable sounds. Autonomous mobility is provided by a mix of lidar, radar, and the video camera array—but given that it missed the steps down into the Washington Harbour water feature, perhaps the software needs tweaking.

Source: ArsTechnica

Also at BBC. Knightscope autonomous robot.


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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @08:51PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @08:51PM (#541158)

    Knightscope K5 Makes A Big Slapsh At Washington Harbour

    Starting Score:    0  points
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       Funny=3, Total=3
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    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday July 18 2017, @09:08PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday July 18 2017, @09:08PM (#541165)

    "Is this picture the proof that Godzilla is female?"

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 19 2017, @03:38AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 19 2017, @03:38AM (#541310)

    I was thinking of the robot taking a dip in the Tidal Basin [wikipedia.org].