The opening shot of the
robot rebellion this isn't, but it's still a reminder of how
robots are slowly creeping into situations where humans and their fleshy bodies can't go. A five hour stand-off that began with a man pointing his gun at a neighbor in a mobile home park in North Fort Myers, Florida was ended when the suspect shot a bomb disposal robot sent in by police to video the man. After the encounter -- the man shot out the video camera's lens -- police moved in to "subdue" the man, although it's not clear whether they shot back. The suspect is now in hospital and is being evaluated for mental health problems: apparently he hadn't been taking his medication, and residents say his wife had just left him. The state of the robot is probably something along the lines of "broken."
[Via
The Raw Feed]
posted Oct 29th 2007 10:56AM
robot pwnd
How dare he shoot at Johnny-5.
"apparently he hadn't been taken his medication"
lets try that one more time =)
I hate you people
Well don't shoot his robot whatever you do.
Their u go again, your pointing out grammar mistakes. Were you thinking people cared? You and me need to sort this annoying practice out!
Muah, ha ha!
If I'm not mistaken, they consider this Assault on an officer, just the same as if you shoot a police dog. He's probably going to be the first person to be sentenced to a prison term for attacking a robot.
oh man, would that suck...
but he just might some street cred:
"hey man, what are you in for?"
"I shot a robot."
"...who are you? Sarah Connor?"
ok, guess not :P
Assault on a police officer? First off, firing a gun at something is not assault, it's attempted murder. Also, it will never be called an assault or attempted murder. At most this is destruction of property, possession of a firearm, maybe discharging a firearm unlawfully (if such a law exists in that jurisdiction).
Now if it was a police dog, horse, pigeon, cat, midget or any other living being it would be assault with a deadly weapon or attempted murder (most likely the latter).
chilin:
what happens when the robots have full on AI?
Seems like a waste of a perfectly good robot if you ask me. The meat bags still had to go in an manually subdue the bad guy.
Note to self: put force field in front of camera lens on killer robot.
Or, you know, a shotgun on the robot.
clever!!
so the robot is blind now :D
at first reading the headline I thought the robot shot the suspect ;)
if its a combat robot shouldn't the camera be hidden/protected ?
anyway nice thinking on the part of the moron... shud be credited...
and at the end of the day good ol' cops had to come out lol
It wasn't a combat robot actually. It was a bomb-disposal robot. It wasn't designed to be shot at, it was designed to be blown up.
-Pie
just a thought...
if it was meant to be blown up (or rather, survive explosions), wouldn't it be tougher than that? :P
I just felt like saying that, read no seriousness in my comment...
@Zhalfim Deyn
I don't think its designed to survive explosions, just to hopefully prevent them. (If it doesn't succeed in preventing one, losing the robot is probably not the biggest concern.)
ow wow wow wow wow my robot sensors.
WHY WAS I PROGRAMMED TO FEEL PAIN?????
I would have just thrown a wet blanket or garbage bag over the annoying, whining mechanical device. Oh wait, I'm not a candidate for an asylum so yes, go and shoot it. Remember, a homemade C4 pipe bomb, below the rib cage will blow up that thing, and then lure it into a hydraulic press...
They called Sarah Connor crazy, too.
Haha! So true!
@ZeroCorpse
Shooting a robot isn't (yet) the same as shooting a police dog. The robots are considered state government property though and there is a misdemeanor charge associated with damaging the equipment.
Police Unions in general have already agreed that they shouldn't convey the same penalties between a police controlled robotic machine, as they do to a dog preforming a job for the police department.
I had that same question. I would hope that a police robot is not given the same status as a police dog. It's good to hear that police have taken this stance. Otherwise, this could totally be abused.
For example, over zealous cops want to trigger a response from crazy man, but can't due to proper rules of engagement. They send in robot to elicit a response. When crazy men freaks out and shoots "officer" Johnny-5, cops are cleared to legally engage with extreme prejudice.
What the story doesn't mention is that the robot antagonized the man by saying, "Your move, creep."
Domo arigato, Officer Roboto.
You have 10 seconds to comply!
Go ahead, make my day... punk.
That's going to be expensive.
i wonder if they will send him a bill for destruction of government property.
Nah, they'll just raise our taxes for it.
Police have just reviled that the next will be built from a poly-metal alloy.
Are you really a robot when a human controls you via remote control?
These are not robots, neither are bomb sniffers, bomb blowers, and neat flying airplanes with cameras in them.
Tinker toys.
True. They are actually RCVs
When asked about repairing the robot, a technician for the Lee County Sheriff's Department said, "We'll get to work on him right away."
A tearful protocol droid could be overheard at the scene, saying, "You must repair him!" and "If any of my circuits or gears will help, I'll gladly donate them."
I'm waiting for the day when criminals use their own bots to combat the other robot.
Danger Will Robinson Danger!
This won't be the first robot to take a hit in the fight against humans especialy when toxic
'mental health medications' are involved. Another Doctor getting a kick back from selling legal street drugs...: "When trying to withdraw from many psychiatric drugs, patients can develop serious and even life-threatening emotional and physical reactions."
http://www.breggin.com/spellbinding_psychiatric_drugs.pdf
Check out this film on Post Humanism and the future
http://www.endgamethemovie.com/
I'm sorry, but this kind of attitude towards a robot's very serious injuries is disrespectful and rude. How would you like it if your camera were shot at and people made fun of it? We need to support our robot-at-arms compatriots in these dark times. I'm sure if the robot could only read this, his feelings would be very hurt, and we should try to keep this in mind.
... for when the robots come to kill us all.
I shot the robot,
but I didn't shoot the Deputy!
...all of a sudden I see robot John Brown,
aiming to shoot me down.
So I shot
I shot him down...
"The suspect is now in hospital and is being evaluated for mental health problems"
You'd be crazy too if robots were after you! Freaking robots, man!!
SO... another mental patient and a firearm. And they say we have a gun problem... "yeah right"
The guy that caused the tragedy acquired a firearm due to paperwork not making it into the right hands.
Why does ANOTHER mental patient have access to firearms? We need a serious review of existing mental patients before another VT tragedy happens.
"Why does ANOTHER mental patient have access to firearms?"
Because most sane people don't need them. They can deal with the world as it (presumably) is. However, if you have paranoid delusions, you NEED a shotgun, and whilst society might frown upon this, somebody with such strong emotions tends to find a way around rules and regulations.
Maybe we just need more cheap menacing robots for the nuts to vent their rage on? Anything as long as they don't hurt people.
I, for one, welcome our newly blinded robot overlords.
holy crap, my city is on Engadget. Now the whole world can see how redneck this place is.
"The suspect is now in hospital and is being evaluated for mental health problems: apparently he hadn't been taken his medication, and residents say he had been paranoid lately about robots chasing him."
Fixed...
This is just the best story...
Robots aren't classified as humans so this is just a workplace accident.
"No hard feelings..."
Portal referance=win!
Unless it wasn't, in which case, it should have been.
I,for one, welcome our robotic,bullet attracting overlords.
That robot had one day until retirement.
wow, for i secound there i thought the ROBOT shot the man and sent him to hospital.
That would have made news.