8 ms·

Food delivery robot rolls through LA crime scene as confused cops look on

109 points by belltaco 4y ago

paulkrush 4y ago
Roll on little dude!
- bombcar 4y ago
  In-n-out is worth crossing police lines, picket lines, maybe even enemy lines.
  - mkaic 4y ago
    "In my client's defense, your honor, they were merely following essential protocol and delivering precious cargo. I now present exhibit A, the Double-Double — add mustard, add chopped chilies, add raw chopped onions — with a fry well done and a Neopolitan shake. Now, who here among us would deem such a prize unworthy of a little minor civil unrest?"
    - nn_m 4y ago
      Very funny! imho
  - trhway 4y ago
    >maybe even enemy lines. Russia has recently put a $15K bounty for capturing an automated battlefield delivery platform (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THeMIS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THeMIS) provided to Ukraine by Estonia. (in Russian https://lenta.ru/news/2022/09/04/robot/ https://lenta.ru/news/2022/09/04/robot/)
  - Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
    The last couple times I went to Las Vegas, I went to the In-n-Out outside Flamingo and was disappointed. It's so hyped up, yet the burger is pretty meh and the fries were way underdone. Honestly I think the other burger chains make better food.
    - bombcar 4y ago
      The Vegas in-n-out was one of the worst I’ve ever been, tbh. Also I usually asked for “deep fried fries” which makes them cook longer. It’s annoying that they have the “secret menu” that you need to know to get things to be the best.
olalonde 4y ago
Saul Goodman is getting creative.
macinjosh 4y ago
Could a bomb disposal bot double as a delivery bot? Those things sit unused most of the time while it could be getting the coffee and donuts or making revenue for the city!
- mongol 4y ago
  Sure, and the firefighters could bake the cakes!
  - OJFord 4y ago
    Jokes aside, in the UK at least I'm not sure they actually have much down-time. They're only permanently staffed in denser areas - in others they have other jobs but are on-call for their fire & rescue duties.
- grogenaut 4y ago
  not sure if you've seen a bomb disposal bot but they're often quite large, like riding mower large, and are pretty slow, and usually tethered instead of wireless. So not really a good crossover.
  - csdvrx 4y ago
    > not sure if you've seen a bomb disposal bot but they're often quite large, like riding mower large, and are pretty slow, and usually tethered instead of wireless. So not really a good crossover. So you mean it could be improved and made cheaper by existing technology?
    - grogenaut 4y ago
      Both yes and no, they have smaller ones, but in some cases that's like saying "I'm going to run my 500 acre farm with this lawn tractor". It's big because bombs can be big and it needs lifting capacity. It also works in a variety of environments like water, fire, etc, sometimes they're hitting them with or using fire hoses from them. Tether is for several reasons including not running out of power or not losing connection while you're, you know, diffusing a bomb.
senectus1 4y ago
one of these rolling through with the purpose of contaminating the scene would be interesting to see argued in courts....
account-5 4y ago
Someone move the tape to let it in the crime scene. Cops just looked like they had more pressing things to deal with. Seems like a non-story to me.
- laundermaf 4y ago
  > Seems like a non-story to me. Kinda. It’s interesting to see we let robots where others can’t go, even in mundane tasks like delivery.
  - modeless 4y ago
    In the reddit post about this someone told a story about how they crossed a crime scene like this to make a delivery.
  - hosh 4y ago
    In the NBC footage, I thought I heard someone joke, “what if it is a bomb”. When the tech reaches a threshold of saturation and ubiquity, it becomes less a curiosity and more of, something else to look out for.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- EdwardDiego 4y ago
  It's a story, just a light hearted one. And not even one mention of Skynet.
  - shultays 4y ago
    Maybe the robot was the perpetrator sent back by Skynet
- rixrax 4y ago
  I think the team is already busy teaching their AI or whatever that when you have a yellow police tape (or otherwise heavy presence of armed officers or other [para]military), find an alternative route. This is how the self driving tech improves. And it's better that glitches like this happen with a small food delivery robot than with a AI controlled truck. But consider this, that robot didn't get arrested, shot at, or otherwise brutalized by the law enforcement officers. And hopefully didn't cause too much confusion at the crime scene either as in preventing officers doing their job. So really, a non-story with win-win ending; or something like that.
undersuit 4y ago
Commit a crime in such a way that when your lunch gets delivered soon after the robot has interfered with the evidence of your crime.
- randycupertino 4y ago
  Stage food delivery at scene of crime so you can getaway inside the robot like in Flight of the Navigator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4v-dMfzp3E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4v-dMfzp3E
keyle 4y ago
Amusing! Anyone has info on this robot, as to how this little roller can cross safely?
- popcalc 4y ago
  https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7m7bj/a-robot-delivery-startup-with-human-operators-is-pushing-no-tips-for-workers https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7m7bj/a-robot-delivery-star... https://medium.com/kiwicampus/how-kiwi-empowers-students-in-colombia-fe99cf1bbc8d https://medium.com/kiwicampus/how-kiwi-empowers-students-in-... Remote workers.
tunnuz 4y ago
Amazon Crime.
londons_explore 4y ago
Are these robots remote controlled? Cos that driving sure looks like a human at a keyboard... I assume maybe these delivery companies are using humans till their 'self drive' software is refined?
- dstick 4y ago
  I'm torn between "that's the best job in the world" and "worst job in the world"
  - sokoloff 4y ago
    Near the former for the first 30 minutes, near the latter for the next 30 years.
- SeanLuke 4y ago
  At least for Starship robots, the answer is yes. As I understand it, the way it works is that if the robots have any doubt about the safety of continuing, they stop and wait. If they have waited too long, they phone home and someone at the central office teleoperates them to safety, where they're in a position where they can continue autonomously. The robots can avoid obstacles autonomously, queue up in long robot lines, and even cross the street by themselves when there are no cars.
  - alkonaut 4y ago
    This is also how "full self driving" cars will work, for as long as we live. Currently the cost race among car manufacturers is battery production, leading to enormous battery factories popping up. The next one will be for massive sweatshops where car manufacturers hire people are on-call to steer a mercedes around a poorly placed traffic cone.
    - londons_explore 4y ago
      If this is the future, there is an interesting outcome... To begin with, operators will control one/a few cars. But eventually as many cars are deployed, it will instead make more sense for the operator to specialize on a particular city or street. You might end up with the operator driving all cars down a particular street, directing each one around the poorly placed traffic cone. Which doesn't look awfully different to a construction worker today directing traffic...
hourago 4y ago
This is one of the problems with automation. You can always find some drunk guy that does something stupid. But if you have dozens or hundreds of robots and something happens that they are not prepared for you get chaos. Right now it is not a problem, thou, as it was just one robot.
Apocryphon 4y ago
Cyberpunk, but cute.
neilv 4y ago
When I saw a video yesterday, I was surprised: IIUC, it's an emergency scene from a purported shooter, and they're letting something like a drone with a big box drive right into a cluster of several responding police officers? In this case, even if they're already confident that the shooter is a hoax, and also somehow confident that the delivery bot is innocuous (e.g., the hoax wasn't to lure them there, like in some Hollywood story), I wonder whether it'd still be good practice to intercept the drone by the time it crosses the police tape? And keep/get it away from people, and/or contain threats it might pose? (The reason I ask is not to presume to know better about emergency scene safety than the people with training and experience in these things, since of course I don't. But knowing a bit about tech over the years has sensitized me not to assume that some risk that seems obvious to me is obvious to everyone else.)
- job_suche 4y ago
  Well, extend your argument to everyday life. A drone strolling along in public and highly populated spaces with a big box full of unknown contents...
  - neilv 4y ago
    Emergency scenes seem to be different context, with different probabilities and priorities. And they already have different protocols. How do those protocols evolve in light of changes like new technology availability?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
m0llusk 4y ago
Begun the robot wars have.

109 points by belltaco 4y ago

paulkrush 4y ago

Roll on little dude!

bombcar 4y ago
In-n-out is worth crossing police lines, picket lines, maybe even enemy lines.
- mkaic 4y ago
  "In my client's defense, your honor, they were merely following essential protocol and delivering precious cargo. I now present exhibit A, the Double-Double — add mustard, add chopped chilies, add raw chopped onions — with a fry well done and a Neopolitan shake. Now, who here among us would deem such a prize unworthy of a little minor civil unrest?"
  - nn_m 4y ago
    Very funny! imho
- trhway 4y ago
  >maybe even enemy lines. Russia has recently put a $15K bounty for capturing an automated battlefield delivery platform (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THeMIS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THeMIS) provided to Ukraine by Estonia. (in Russian https://lenta.ru/news/2022/09/04/robot/ https://lenta.ru/news/2022/09/04/robot/)
- Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
  The last couple times I went to Las Vegas, I went to the In-n-Out outside Flamingo and was disappointed. It's so hyped up, yet the burger is pretty meh and the fries were way underdone. Honestly I think the other burger chains make better food.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    The Vegas in-n-out was one of the worst I’ve ever been, tbh. Also I usually asked for “deep fried fries” which makes them cook longer. It’s annoying that they have the “secret menu” that you need to know to get things to be the best.

olalonde 4y ago

Saul Goodman is getting creative.

macinjosh 4y ago

Could a bomb disposal bot double as a delivery bot? Those things sit unused most of the time while it could be getting the coffee and donuts or making revenue for the city!

mongol 4y ago
Sure, and the firefighters could bake the cakes!
- OJFord 4y ago
  Jokes aside, in the UK at least I'm not sure they actually have much down-time. They're only permanently staffed in denser areas - in others they have other jobs but are on-call for their fire & rescue duties.
grogenaut 4y ago
not sure if you've seen a bomb disposal bot but they're often quite large, like riding mower large, and are pretty slow, and usually tethered instead of wireless. So not really a good crossover.
- csdvrx 4y ago
  > not sure if you've seen a bomb disposal bot but they're often quite large, like riding mower large, and are pretty slow, and usually tethered instead of wireless. So not really a good crossover. So you mean it could be improved and made cheaper by existing technology?
  - grogenaut 4y ago
    Both yes and no, they have smaller ones, but in some cases that's like saying "I'm going to run my 500 acre farm with this lawn tractor". It's big because bombs can be big and it needs lifting capacity. It also works in a variety of environments like water, fire, etc, sometimes they're hitting them with or using fire hoses from them. Tether is for several reasons including not running out of power or not losing connection while you're, you know, diffusing a bomb.

senectus1 4y ago

one of these rolling through with the purpose of contaminating the scene would be interesting to see argued in courts....

account-5 4y ago

Someone move the tape to let it in the crime scene. Cops just looked like they had more pressing things to deal with. Seems like a non-story to me.

laundermaf 4y ago
> Seems like a non-story to me. Kinda. It’s interesting to see we let robots where others can’t go, even in mundane tasks like delivery.
- modeless 4y ago
  In the reddit post about this someone told a story about how they crossed a crime scene like this to make a delivery.
- hosh 4y ago
  In the NBC footage, I thought I heard someone joke, “what if it is a bomb”. When the tech reaches a threshold of saturation and ubiquity, it becomes less a curiosity and more of, something else to look out for.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
EdwardDiego 4y ago
It's a story, just a light hearted one. And not even one mention of Skynet.
- shultays 4y ago
  Maybe the robot was the perpetrator sent back by Skynet
rixrax 4y ago
I think the team is already busy teaching their AI or whatever that when you have a yellow police tape (or otherwise heavy presence of armed officers or other [para]military), find an alternative route. This is how the self driving tech improves. And it's better that glitches like this happen with a small food delivery robot than with a AI controlled truck. But consider this, that robot didn't get arrested, shot at, or otherwise brutalized by the law enforcement officers. And hopefully didn't cause too much confusion at the crime scene either as in preventing officers doing their job. So really, a non-story with win-win ending; or something like that.

undersuit 4y ago

Commit a crime in such a way that when your lunch gets delivered soon after the robot has interfered with the evidence of your crime.

randycupertino 4y ago
Stage food delivery at scene of crime so you can getaway inside the robot like in Flight of the Navigator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4v-dMfzp3E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4v-dMfzp3E

keyle 4y ago

Amusing! Anyone has info on this robot, as to how this little roller can cross safely?

popcalc 4y ago
https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7m7bj/a-robot-delivery-startup-with-human-operators-is-pushing-no-tips-for-workers https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7m7bj/a-robot-delivery-star... https://medium.com/kiwicampus/how-kiwi-empowers-students-in-colombia-fe99cf1bbc8d https://medium.com/kiwicampus/how-kiwi-empowers-students-in-... Remote workers.

tunnuz 4y ago

Amazon Crime.

londons_explore 4y ago

Are these robots remote controlled? Cos that driving sure looks like a human at a keyboard... I assume maybe these delivery companies are using humans till their 'self drive' software is refined?

dstick 4y ago
I'm torn between "that's the best job in the world" and "worst job in the world"
- sokoloff 4y ago
  Near the former for the first 30 minutes, near the latter for the next 30 years.
SeanLuke 4y ago
At least for Starship robots, the answer is yes. As I understand it, the way it works is that if the robots have any doubt about the safety of continuing, they stop and wait. If they have waited too long, they phone home and someone at the central office teleoperates them to safety, where they're in a position where they can continue autonomously. The robots can avoid obstacles autonomously, queue up in long robot lines, and even cross the street by themselves when there are no cars.
- alkonaut 4y ago
  This is also how "full self driving" cars will work, for as long as we live. Currently the cost race among car manufacturers is battery production, leading to enormous battery factories popping up. The next one will be for massive sweatshops where car manufacturers hire people are on-call to steer a mercedes around a poorly placed traffic cone.
  - londons_explore 4y ago
    If this is the future, there is an interesting outcome... To begin with, operators will control one/a few cars. But eventually as many cars are deployed, it will instead make more sense for the operator to specialize on a particular city or street. You might end up with the operator driving all cars down a particular street, directing each one around the poorly placed traffic cone. Which doesn't look awfully different to a construction worker today directing traffic...

hourago 4y ago

This is one of the problems with automation. You can always find some drunk guy that does something stupid. But if you have dozens or hundreds of robots and something happens that they are not prepared for you get chaos. Right now it is not a problem, thou, as it was just one robot.

Apocryphon 4y ago

Cyberpunk, but cute.

neilv 4y ago

When I saw a video yesterday, I was surprised: IIUC, it's an emergency scene from a purported shooter, and they're letting something like a drone with a big box drive right into a cluster of several responding police officers? In this case, even if they're already confident that the shooter is a hoax, and also somehow confident that the delivery bot is innocuous (e.g., the hoax wasn't to lure them there, like in some Hollywood story), I wonder whether it'd still be good practice to intercept the drone by the time it crosses the police tape? And keep/get it away from people, and/or contain threats it might pose? (The reason I ask is not to presume to know better about emergency scene safety than the people with training and experience in these things, since of course I don't. But knowing a bit about tech over the years has sensitized me not to assume that some risk that seems obvious to me is obvious to everyone else.)

job_suche 4y ago
Well, extend your argument to everyday life. A drone strolling along in public and highly populated spaces with a big box full of unknown contents...
- neilv 4y ago
  Emergency scenes seem to be different context, with different probabilities and priorities. And they already have different protocols. How do those protocols evolve in light of changes like new technology availability?
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

m0llusk 4y ago

Begun the robot wars have.