The watery demise of a security robot in Washington, DC was seized on by social media commentators as a stark metaphor for our times.
The K5 autonomous robot was patrolling outside the Washington Harbour office and retail complex on Tuesday (New Zealand time) when it tumbled into the fountain.
Photos posted on social media showed the robot on its side in deep water as people tried to work out how to rescue it.
It's a fun day here at @gmmb. The super high-tech security robot at our office complex has had a mishap. pic.twitter.com/nhRshrJA9w — Greg Pinelo (@gregpinelo) July 17, 2017
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The K5 robot was eventually fished out, but appeared that its patrolling days were over.
It's ok security robot. It's a stressful job, we've all been there. pic.twitter.com/LQbnntbCRm — ✨💖Sparkle Ops💖✨ (@SparkleOps) July 17, 2017
Knightscope, a Silicon Valley start-up, said in a statement that the incident was under investigation, pointing out that no one was hurt.
The company called it "an isolated event" and promised to deliver a new robot for free.
But by then the internet was in irony overload.
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