Stanford Shopping Center’s robo cops are “docked” until the mall can figure out why one of the 300-pound machines mowed over a toddler last week.
“We are investigating this incident thoroughly, and the K5 units have been docked until the investigation is complete,” the center said in a prepared statement Tuesday, according to The San Jose Mercury News.
The 5-foot-tall robotic police are fitted with cameras and sensors to patrol places like shopping centers and other businesses. Mountain View startup Knightscope has sold the autonomous bullet-shaped “K5” robots to Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, Northland Controls in Fremont, and other places, the news site reports.
Parents say 300lb security robot @StanfordShop knocks over their son and runs over his foot. pic.twitter.com/5IZ4oOkkNi
— Lilian Kim (@liliankim7) July 12, 2016
Stanford shopper Tiffany Teng told ABC 7 that her 16-month-old son Harwin collided with one of the robo cops at the mall last Thursday, an experience that traumatized the boy and left him with a scrape on his leg.
“The robot hit my son’s head and he fell down facing down on the floor and the robot did not stop and it kept moving forward,” Teng said, adding that an actual security guard told her a similar incident occurred days before.
Teng said the robot ran over her son’s right foot, leaving bruising and a scrape, but the child was not seriously injured.
“He was crying like crazy, and he never cries,” she said. “He seldom cries.”
“Right now I don’t think I would ever go there again,” Teng told the Mercury News.
CBS San Francisco reports the robots have patrolled the mall for about a year.
Mall officials did not comment on the allegation of a previous incident involving the robo cops, and a spokesman would not divulge how many robo cops the mall uses.
Knightscope VP of marketing and sales Stacy Stephens told the news site that the incident involving Teng’s son is the first problem with the robots the company is aware of. She contends that K5 robo cops have patrolled a combined 25,000 miles so far without issue.
“Hearing a report that one of our machines may have injured someone is absolutely horrifying,” Stephens wrote in an email. “Many of our team members are parents and understand the importance of protecting our children at all costs.”
According to Popular Science:
The robot is a Knightscope guard, similar to the kind Uber tested for patrolling its parking lots. The robots patrol pre-programmed routes or in geo-fenced areas, and can record video in normal and infrared vision. They’re rented as a pair, with one patrolling while the other recharges, for just $7 hour. That’s $3/hour less than California’s minimum wage.
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