Robot cop retired after public outcry

IN THE past month, his first on the job, “K-9” – a 1.5-metre-tall, 1-metre-wide K5 Autonomous Data Machine that can be rented for $6 an hour from Silicon Valley startup Knightscope – was battered with barbecue sauce, allegedly smeared with faeces, covered by a tarp and nearly toppled by an attacker.

As if those incidents weren’t bad enough, K-9 was also accused of discriminating against homeless people who had taken up refuge on the sidewalks he was assigned to patrol. It was those troubling allegations, which went viral this week, that sparked public outrage and prompted K-9’s employers – the San Francisco chapter of the animal rescue group SPCA – to pull the plug on their newly minted robot security pilot program.

“Robot wages war on the homeless,” a particularly inflammatory

headline read.

In recent days, SPCA officials said, they’ve received hundreds of messages encouraging people to seek retribution against the animal shelter through violence and vandalism. So far, officials said, the facility has experienced two acts of vandalism.

K-9 is not the first Knightscope machine to have a short-lived security career. In July, a K5 robot patrolling Washington Harbour ended up in a fountain, its cone-shaped body halfway submerged in a scene reminiscent of a violent crime.