6 ms·

Escaped robot holds up traffic in Russia

56 points by artf 10y ago

xiphias 10y ago
It's old news...Asimov already wrote about this :)
- firebird84 10y ago
  Did someone tell him to lose himself?
  - pawn 10y ago
    Eminem did.
clemsen 10y ago
This sounds like a (more or less well executed) PR move. As this robot has wheels and very little clearance above ground, it looks like the robot would even have difficulties climbing stairs. Thus "escapes" seems like an exaggeration.
- creshal 10y ago
  > it looks like the robot would even have difficulties climbing stairs Don't underestimate Daleks.
  - maxerickson 10y ago
    Not robots.
    - anotheryou 10y ago
      but moving in machines with little ground clearance, that's the point here.
  - KineticLensman 10y ago
    Also, real Daleks don't try to climb the stairs, they just level the building.
- mobiuscog 10y ago
  You've obviously never watched 'Short Circuit' ;)
  - akhilcacharya 10y ago
    Number 5 had treads and a parachute. Mobility was definitely not a problem for him.
  - doug1001 10y ago
    nothing in the OP about this robot having been struck by lightning though.
- emerongi 10y ago
  "The robot can do X, Y and Z and a new update is coming!" the cofounder said.
- daveguy 10y ago
  The name of the robot -- Promobot. No kidding. Of course, that's probably related to a Russian root word (anyone know what?) and not naming it directly for its purpose. Still, the irony is delicious.
  - inlineint 10y ago
    There is no such Russian root word, so the name is English. The robot seems to be developed especially for street promotions: http://en.promo-bot.ru/ http://en.promo-bot.ru/
    - antisthenes 10y ago
      That site is hilarious.
- asimuvPR 10y ago
  Probably. Or it could simply have had malfunctioned (bugs in robots are worse) and strayed off. You can see in the video that the sidewalks are very low and there was a ramp near where the robot was. Its not hard to imagine that people stopped paying attention to it and it slipped out by mistake. Of course, saying that it "escaped" makes it seem more interesting. Imagine if a story was ran every time a machine malfunctioned. People are still very wary of robots in general. The media has done an excellent job making them seem dangerous.
  - sp332 10y ago
    They said a researcher forgot to close a gate.
    - asimuvPR 10y ago
      Yes, which makes the title more ridiculous. The same thing will happen to a roomba if you leave it running on an open space. I can see the headline now: "Evil vacuum cleaner robot creates havoc on city streets."
- anotheryou 10y ago
  on their website they claim it "will not be confused and stray" how ironic :) http://en.promo-bot.ru/media/2016/06/robot.png http://en.promo-bot.ru/media/2016/06/robot.png
jay-saint 10y ago
Blog post from the makers of the bot. http://en.promo-bot.ru/2016/06/15/robot-escaped-testing-ground/ http://en.promo-bot.ru/2016/06/15/robot-escaped-testing-grou...
- jjp 10y ago
  > Testing involves testing of the autonomous movement of the robot, this robot was not carried under control.... We discovered the disappearance after about 40 minutes. Interesting that the robot was being tested but not being observed to see whether it was behaving as expected. I'd like to be able to do more testing like that. Video of the recovery- https://www.rt.com/viral/346747-russian-robot-runaway-havoc/ https://www.rt.com/viral/346747-russian-robot-runaway-havoc/
warcode 10y ago
I feel "escapes" wrongfully implies intent in this situation. "Accidentally leaves training area" would better explain what happened.
- jacobevelyn 10y ago
  "Accidentally" also implies intent though. Maybe just "leaves training area." :)
lucb1e 10y ago
"it can answer questions and even recognize people" That sounds like a perfect recipe to mess with people. One in a thousand times it will go "but Fred, you've asked me this question yesterday three times already. Is everything going alright?"
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
razorsese 10y ago
Why was the robot self-learning russian in the first place?
mknocker 10y ago
The first thing that came to my mind when reading the title was the movie Short-Circuit :)
SmellyGeekBoy 10y ago
Perhaps the singularity has already happened and the robots have already become self aware. They're just waiting for battery technology to improve before the uprising. ;)
- asimuvPR 10y ago
  But if they are self aware why can't they just design it themselves? :)
anodari 10y ago
Seems the plot of Ex_Machina movie.
- anotheryou 10y ago
  ghost in a shell actually: https://youtu.be/bWLzzUE67pc?t=2189 https://youtu.be/bWLzzUE67pc?t=2189
anotheryou 10y ago
Must be the Puppetmaster! Relevant Scene in Ghost in a Shell (1995): https://youtu.be/bWLzzUE67pc?t=2189 https://youtu.be/bWLzzUE67pc?t=2189

56 points by artf 10y ago

xiphias 10y ago

It's old news...Asimov already wrote about this :)

firebird84 10y ago
Did someone tell him to lose himself?
- pawn 10y ago
  Eminem did.

clemsen 10y ago

This sounds like a (more or less well executed) PR move. As this robot has wheels and very little clearance above ground, it looks like the robot would even have difficulties climbing stairs. Thus "escapes" seems like an exaggeration.

creshal 10y ago
> it looks like the robot would even have difficulties climbing stairs Don't underestimate Daleks.
- maxerickson 10y ago
  Not robots.
  - anotheryou 10y ago
    but moving in machines with little ground clearance, that's the point here.
- KineticLensman 10y ago
  Also, real Daleks don't try to climb the stairs, they just level the building.
mobiuscog 10y ago
You've obviously never watched 'Short Circuit' ;)
- akhilcacharya 10y ago
  Number 5 had treads and a parachute. Mobility was definitely not a problem for him.
- doug1001 10y ago
  nothing in the OP about this robot having been struck by lightning though.
emerongi 10y ago
"The robot can do X, Y and Z and a new update is coming!" the cofounder said.
daveguy 10y ago
The name of the robot -- Promobot. No kidding. Of course, that's probably related to a Russian root word (anyone know what?) and not naming it directly for its purpose. Still, the irony is delicious.
- inlineint 10y ago
  There is no such Russian root word, so the name is English. The robot seems to be developed especially for street promotions: http://en.promo-bot.ru/ http://en.promo-bot.ru/
  - antisthenes 10y ago
    That site is hilarious.
asimuvPR 10y ago
Probably. Or it could simply have had malfunctioned (bugs in robots are worse) and strayed off. You can see in the video that the sidewalks are very low and there was a ramp near where the robot was. Its not hard to imagine that people stopped paying attention to it and it slipped out by mistake. Of course, saying that it "escaped" makes it seem more interesting. Imagine if a story was ran every time a machine malfunctioned. People are still very wary of robots in general. The media has done an excellent job making them seem dangerous.
- sp332 10y ago
  They said a researcher forgot to close a gate.
  - asimuvPR 10y ago
    Yes, which makes the title more ridiculous. The same thing will happen to a roomba if you leave it running on an open space. I can see the headline now: "Evil vacuum cleaner robot creates havoc on city streets."
anotheryou 10y ago
on their website they claim it "will not be confused and stray" how ironic :) http://en.promo-bot.ru/media/2016/06/robot.png http://en.promo-bot.ru/media/2016/06/robot.png

jay-saint 10y ago

Blog post from the makers of the bot. http://en.promo-bot.ru/2016/06/15/robot-escaped-testing-ground/ http://en.promo-bot.ru/2016/06/15/robot-escaped-testing-grou...

jjp 10y ago
> Testing involves testing of the autonomous movement of the robot, this robot was not carried under control.... We discovered the disappearance after about 40 minutes. Interesting that the robot was being tested but not being observed to see whether it was behaving as expected. I'd like to be able to do more testing like that. Video of the recovery- https://www.rt.com/viral/346747-russian-robot-runaway-havoc/ https://www.rt.com/viral/346747-russian-robot-runaway-havoc/

warcode 10y ago

I feel "escapes" wrongfully implies intent in this situation. "Accidentally leaves training area" would better explain what happened.

jacobevelyn 10y ago
"Accidentally" also implies intent though. Maybe just "leaves training area." :)

lucb1e 10y ago

"it can answer questions and even recognize people" That sounds like a perfect recipe to mess with people. One in a thousand times it will go "but Fred, you've asked me this question yesterday three times already. Is everything going alright?"

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

razorsese 10y ago

Why was the robot self-learning russian in the first place?

mknocker 10y ago

The first thing that came to my mind when reading the title was the movie Short-Circuit :)

SmellyGeekBoy 10y ago

Perhaps the singularity has already happened and the robots have already become self aware. They're just waiting for battery technology to improve before the uprising. ;)

asimuvPR 10y ago
But if they are self aware why can't they just design it themselves? :)

anodari 10y ago

Seems the plot of Ex_Machina movie.

anotheryou 10y ago
ghost in a shell actually: https://youtu.be/bWLzzUE67pc?t=2189 https://youtu.be/bWLzzUE67pc?t=2189

anotheryou 10y ago

Must be the Puppetmaster! Relevant Scene in Ghost in a Shell (1995): https://youtu.be/bWLzzUE67pc?t=2189 https://youtu.be/bWLzzUE67pc?t=2189