6 ms·

Robot arrested by Russian police at political rally in Moscow

58 points by altstar 10y ago

lillesvin 10y ago
I'm not sure we're at the point where you can hold the robot fully responsible yet.
Normal_gaussian 10y ago
Handcuffs? Are these police being paid by the company? Most robot manufacturers only dream about this sort of publicity.
- eliaspro 10y ago
  What do you think the Robot was sent for to the rally in the first place?
  - Normal_gaussian 10y ago
    Having read the article it seems that the robot was hired by the rally organisers in order to poll and influence the attendees. So the company likely sent it there in order to complete a contract.
shawkinaw 10y ago
Right after another robot disarmed a suspect in LA [0]. Our robot future is here. [0] http://www.laweekly.com/news/an-inattentive-gunman-got-his-rifle-snatched-by-a-robot-cops-say-7392372 http://www.laweekly.com/news/an-inattentive-gunman-got-his-r...
- ourmandave 10y ago
  The department announced this week that the robot approached from behind and took the suspect's rifle as he was lying down on his belly to face a battery of SWAT team members assembling to take him down. The robot was being controlled by an officer like an RC car. This makes it sound like the robot acted autonomously.
  - shawkinaw 10y ago
    Yeah, the reality of the story isn't nearly as good as the headline. Also, the guy wasn't holding the gun at the time. Still, great headline.
zby 10y ago
It's not the first time: http://piratetimes.net/plastic-pirates-put-into-prison/ http://piratetimes.net/plastic-pirates-put-into-prison/
drglitch 10y ago
This article is based on a very poor translation of an announcement put out by owners of the robot on social media site. As per the russian news site that covered this: - robot was hired by the campaign to "agitate" (e.g. play loud political messages) for the candidate to passers by as they exited a subway stop in moscow. - police arrived on scene and asked the organizers to move the robot farther away from the path of the people. Based on above, the owners put out a press release claiming the robot was "almost arrested" and announced that between the original "escape from proving grounds" 2 weeks ago and this, the robot "must now be destroyed ... because it got too smart". Pretty good marketing campaign, but definitely not an AI breakthrough :) edit: format
- guessmyname 10y ago
  Ha ha this makes more sense. In fact, I didn't even read the article nor watched the video, but immediately upon the load of the page I noticed the name of the robot: "Promobot" and I immediately jumped to the conclusion that either the article or the incident was some sort of PR. It reminded me of the film "I, Robot" [1] where a AI-powered machine supposedly breaks the three laws of robotics [2]. I wonder if this will happen in the not-so-far future. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot_%28film%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot_%28film%29 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics
ourmandave 10y ago
Police have not confirmed why they detained the machine named Promobot, but local media was reporting the company behind the robot said police were called because it was "recording voters' opinions on [a] variety of topics for further processing and analysis by the candidate's team". Here's the perp's website: http://en.promo-bot.ru/ http://en.promo-bot.ru/ Anyway, this is so much BS. I didn't see any handcuffs being use in the video. The thing has arms but don't appear functional except to hold press releases. Very poor choice of words. The police don't "detain" your camera or your computer when they seize evidence. Up next: Local police arrest Corolla for to many parking violations.
georgeecollins 10y ago
What a great business opportunity! Tele-presence for social activism.

58 points by altstar 10y ago

I'm not sure we're at the point where you can hold the robot fully responsible yet.

Handcuffs? Are these police being paid by the company? Most robot manufacturers only dream about this sort of publicity.

eliaspro 10y ago
What do you think the Robot was sent for to the rally in the first place?
- Normal_gaussian 10y ago
  Having read the article it seems that the robot was hired by the rally organisers in order to poll and influence the attendees. So the company likely sent it there in order to complete a contract.

shawkinaw 10y ago

Right after another robot disarmed a suspect in LA [0]. Our robot future is here. [0] http://www.laweekly.com/news/an-inattentive-gunman-got-his-rifle-snatched-by-a-robot-cops-say-7392372 http://www.laweekly.com/news/an-inattentive-gunman-got-his-r...

ourmandave 10y ago
The department announced this week that the robot approached from behind and took the suspect's rifle as he was lying down on his belly to face a battery of SWAT team members assembling to take him down. The robot was being controlled by an officer like an RC car. This makes it sound like the robot acted autonomously.
- shawkinaw 10y ago
  Yeah, the reality of the story isn't nearly as good as the headline. Also, the guy wasn't holding the gun at the time. Still, great headline.

zby 10y ago

It's not the first time: http://piratetimes.net/plastic-pirates-put-into-prison/ http://piratetimes.net/plastic-pirates-put-into-prison/

drglitch 10y ago

This article is based on a very poor translation of an announcement put out by owners of the robot on social media site. As per the russian news site that covered this: - robot was hired by the campaign to "agitate" (e.g. play loud political messages) for the candidate to passers by as they exited a subway stop in moscow. - police arrived on scene and asked the organizers to move the robot farther away from the path of the people. Based on above, the owners put out a press release claiming the robot was "almost arrested" and announced that between the original "escape from proving grounds" 2 weeks ago and this, the robot "must now be destroyed ... because it got too smart". Pretty good marketing campaign, but definitely not an AI breakthrough :) edit: format

guessmyname 10y ago
Ha ha this makes more sense. In fact, I didn't even read the article nor watched the video, but immediately upon the load of the page I noticed the name of the robot: "Promobot" and I immediately jumped to the conclusion that either the article or the incident was some sort of PR. It reminded me of the film "I, Robot" [1] where a AI-powered machine supposedly breaks the three laws of robotics [2]. I wonder if this will happen in the not-so-far future. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot_%28film%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot_%28film%29 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics

ourmandave 10y ago

Police have not confirmed why they detained the machine named Promobot, but local media was reporting the company behind the robot said police were called because it was "recording voters' opinions on [a] variety of topics for further processing and analysis by the candidate's team". Here's the perp's website: http://en.promo-bot.ru/ http://en.promo-bot.ru/ Anyway, this is so much BS. I didn't see any handcuffs being use in the video. The thing has arms but don't appear functional except to hold press releases. Very poor choice of words. The police don't "detain" your camera or your computer when they seize evidence. Up next: Local police arrest Corolla for to many parking violations.

georgeecollins 10y ago

What a great business opportunity! Tele-presence for social activism.