Associated Incidents
This is probably not the security droid we're looking for.
The egg-shaped robot, known as the K5 Autonomous Data Machine, drew sympathy and jeers on Monday after it stumbled down a set of steps and into a fountain at Washington Harbour, an office and retail complex in the Georgetown neighbourhood in Washington, D.C. The photos were widely shared.
Stairs proved to be the K5's nemesis. Credit:Twitter: @bilalfarooqui
The robot is 1.5 metres tall, weighs 136 kilograms and can travel up to 5 kilometres per hour. It bears a passing resemblance to R2-D2 or perhaps a Dalek.
The K5's pop-culture cousin is clearly RoboCop. It is equipped with, among other things, thermal imaging, automatic license plate recognition and a video camera. Knightscope, the California-based maker of the robot, said its machines can be "an additional set of intelligent eyes and ears" for security and law enforcement. Its clients include data centres, hospitals and shopping malls.