One Robot In Silicon Valley Was Attacked For Doing Its Job

A defenseless 300-pounds security robot was punched while doing his duty in a mall’s parking lot. While the bot escaped with just a few scratches, its assailant ended up in prison #machinemagic

The cops from Mountain View (Silicon Valley), California, arrested a 41-year-old drunken man for beating up a security robot. The bot, a droid from Knightscope, was simply doing his job, patrolling the parking lot of a shopping center. Out of nowhere, it seems, the man got angry and began to attack the robot, leaving some bruises behind. Thrown on the ground, the bot couldn’t continue its work.  On that day, at least. Now, K5 is back to work, scanning hundreds of license plates per minute. 

Meanwhile, the guy, identified as Jason Sylvain, went to jail for prowling and public intoxication. To some of you this might seem excessive, as robots don’t feel pain as humans do. Yet, the K5 model remains someone’s property and it did get temporarily damaged. This type of robots aren’t armed or instructed to react to violence. When they spot an anomaly, their first reaction is to alert human security guards. They can assess the danger based to the 360-degree video feed K5 send. Soon enough, their responsibilities will increase, as Knightscope wants to use them to detect guns. 

Is this a preview of what we’ll see in the future, when robots will become more common and part of the society? How is the law going to change to accommodate them? Will they receive the same equal protection and rights that we, humans, benefit from? That’s a lot to think about…