A Washington, D.C. security robot on the job for just a few days had a mishap that ended with it “drowning” in a fountain Monday afternoon, and the internet, predictably, has gone wild at its expense.
The K5 autonomous robot, the creation of Silicon Valley start-up Knightscope, was making the rounds outside the Washington Harbour mixed-use development in Georgetown when it apparently fell down some stairs and into the fountain, according to the Washington Post.
The 5-foot-tall, 300-pound, bullet-shaped robot lay on its side in the shallow water as maintenance workers determined how to best rescue it from its watery demise.
The K5, which uses a bevy of sensors, microphones, cameras and GPS to do its job, appeared to lose some of its cool factor from there, as shoppers and office workers in the building took to social media with images of the accident.
“Our D.C. office building got a security robot. It drowned itself,” one Twitter user wrote. “We were promised flying cars; instead, we got suicidal robots.”
Another tweet stated that the robot “sleeps with the fishes,” while a third Twitter user commiserated with the K5.
“It’s OK, security robot,” the user wrote. “It’s a stressful job. We’ve all been there.”
Knightscope got in on the fun as well, sharing an image of a K5 wearing swim trunks and sunglasses, with a duck float around its substantial waist.
“I heard humans can take a dip in the water in this heat, but robots cannot,” the tweet read. “I’m sorry.”
In a less tongue-in-cheek statement, Knightscope told the Post that the "isolated incident" is under investigation. A new K5 will be delivered to Washington Harbour for free this week, the company said.
Learn more about the K5 robot in the video below.
CNN reported last July that one of Knightscope's robots knocked down a 16-month-old boy at a California shopping mall. The boy, whose leg was run over, sustained minor injuries.
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