Suicide? Baptism Gone Wrong? 'Mall Cop' Robot Drowns in Public Fountain

Washington Harbour's attempts to bring a bit of futuristic, high-tech surveillance to the Georgetown Waterfront floundered when their 5-foot-tall, egg-shaped security robot was found on its side, submerged in a public fountain Monday.

The sight of the drowned “robocop” being rescued from the shallow pool struck some passersby as instant comedy, with some users wondering if the “stressed-out” bot — fed up with job pressures, unappreciated, dissatisfied with a spiritless existence — simply decided to kick the bucket.

One witness, upon viewing the beached bot's human colleagues rescuing it, expressed shock that the property owners were literally christening the 400-pound automoton.

The Knightscope K5 has certainly had its brush with bullies in the past: in April, the conical cop was attacked while patrolling a Mountain View, California parking lot by a drunken 41-year-old who decided, without provocation, to run and tackle the inanimate officer. While minor scrapes and scratches resulted from the brawl, the robot was largely unscathed.

The perpetrator, however, was arrested on charges of “prowling and public intoxication,” but no motive for his attack was ascertained. Maybe the perp had the old idiom, “snitches get stitches,” in mind?

However, the robot billed as “a game changer for security operations everywhere” in promo materials published by Silicon Valley startup Knightscope is hardly an AI 'droid capable of the sort of existential self-reflection common in sci-fi films like "Blade Runner" or "Short Circuit."

RELATED:
Global South to Be 'Potential Losers' as Robots Replace Workers: Report

Instead, the Knightscope K5 is an oversized Roomba of sorts. Teeming with high-definition cameras, audio recorders, infrared sensors and lasers for detecting humans, the K5 is capable of moving ploddingly at 2 miles per hour according to patrol routes within a geo-fenced area. The robot is known to whistle while patrolling and, if needed, can bark out orders or pre-recorded announcements or threats at would-be vandals through its PA system.

The K5's “suicide” is just the latest scandal plaguing the Silicon Valley startup, which has been desperately crowdsourcing its line of security products, selling shares for US$3 as skeptical investors look askance at its US$420,426 revenue in 2016.

Last year, the robot ran over a 16-month-old at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California, luckily causing only minor injuries. Rather than using its advanced capabilities to stop and alert emergency personnel, the K5 breezed along, shocking the mall's patrons.

Maybe Knightscope would have more luck finding clients for its “advanced” security system if its products operated in line with Isaac Asimov's famous Three Laws of Robotics:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.