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Security Robot Commits Suicide


Monroe

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Just as I'm tired of spying drones and hope they all crash ... now we have one less robot to be concerned about ... unless of course, they repair it and put it back into service! We can only hope it's dead. I thought this must be the first robot to commit suicide ... right? Wrong, the first robot on record to destroy itself was in Nov 2013. A cleaning robot climbed onto a kitchen hot plate to 'end it all'. The pressure of everyday life that humans face seems to be taking a toll on these machines. There is some hope this revolution is maybe suffering some setbacks.

Robots are thought to enjoy doing the same thing over and over, day after day ... maybe this just isn't true. Like humans, they may need a break every so often to work at a different job.

Anyway, there are pictures in both these articles ... be warned, these pictures are not for people with weak stomachs. The robot in the first article drowned and in the second article, the robot melted.

Robot Security Guard Commits Suicide in Public Fountain

http://nymag.com/selectall/2017/07/robot-security-guard-commits-suicide-in-public-fountain.html

By Jake Swearingen

July 17, 2017

The Knightscope security robot was supposed to patrol the Georgetown Waterfront, a ritzy shopping-and-office complex along the Washington Harbour in D.C. But the pressure was too much for the rolling robot, which can turn, beep, and whistle in order to maintain order. It rolled into fountain and drowned itself on Monday.

The Knightscope security robot has pros and cons. It’s a good deal for any place that wants something patrolling an area on the cheap. It’ll roll around malls or parking lots, with rental prices starting at $7 per hour — 25 cents less than the federal minimum wage. Uber uses it to patrol certain parking lots.

On the downside, it’s has been knocked over by a drunk man. Before that, it knocked down and ran over a 16-month-old boy. It looks like some The Fly–type experiment between R2D2 and a Dalek. And apparently it has a tendency toward self-harm.

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 World's first robot SUICIDE as family return to find cleaning gadget had turned to ash

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/worlds-first-robot-suicide-family-2786901

 By Rebecca Pocklington

13 NOV 2013

A cleaning robot 'committed suicide' by climbing on to a kitchen hotplate where it was burned to death.

According to local reports, the Irobot Roomba 760 robot is thought to have rebelled against its chores and decided enough was enough.

Firemen were called to the blaze at Hinterstoder in Kirchdorf, Austria, and say they found the remains of the machine on the hotplate.

Fireman Helmut Kniewasser said: "The home-owner had put the small robot on the work surface to clean up some spilled cereal.

"Once the robot had done its job it was switched off but left on the kitchen sideboard. The 44-year-old house owner together with his wife and son then left the house and were not home when the robot set off.

"Somehow it seems to have reactivated itself and made its way along the work surface where it pushed a cooking pot out of the way and basically that was the end of it."

He added: "It pretty quickly started to melt underneath and then stuck to the kitchen hotplate. It then caught fire. By the time we arrived, it was just a pile of ash.

"The entire building had to be evacuated and there was severe smoke damage particularly in the flat where the robot had been in use.

"I don't know about the allegations of a robot suicide but the homeowner is insistent that the device was switched off – it's a mystery how it came to be activated and ended up making its way to the hotplate."

The family are now reportedly homeless because their apartment is no longer habitable thanks to the smoke damage.

Homeowner Gernot Hackl, 44, said: "I intend to sue to get compensation. It has ruined my home as everything is smoke damaged.

"Everything is black. It's not possible to live here at the moment. I would never buy one again, you buy them to keep the place clean, not almost burn it down and ruin everything."

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A small add to my earlier post ... if when clicking on the link to the first article, you have JavaScript on ... the picture right below the first picture is larger and shows several people who appear to be in a state of shock at what they are looking at. It could also be that they are laughing or finding the whole thing amusing.

It's really hard to say ... are they smiling or literally in a 'state of shock' ???

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