'Suicidal' Knightscope Robot Drowns

Published Jul 17, 2017 21:12 PM
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Knightscope continues its hyper growth, at least when it comes to controversy, this time with a 'suicidal' robot in Washington DC.

And here is another view of the Knightscope robot out of action:

 

Ironically, Knightscope is right now selling shares for just $3 each to those daring enough to buy.  

This extends Knightscope's streak of social media sensations including a drunken man attacking a Knightscope robota Knightscope executive attacking IPVM and a a Knightscope robot running over a child.

The bigger challenge is Knightscope's 2016 revenue of just $420,425 with a $4+ million loss while seeking an $80 million valuation.

And as for the drowning robot, it is little surprise. Knightscope has been far too aggressive for the maturity of its technology and is bound to continue to have such public fiascos with its current approach. Unfortunately, Knightscope's marketing claims are too grand for its abilities:

But, one has to wonder, is all of this just part of their master publicity plan?

There are other security robots out there, e.g., see our profiles on CobaltNXTSMPGamma2, and Sharp.

Update: Happened at New Trial

This robot was a new trial:

It will be interesting to see how this impacts their key partner, Allied Universal, who surely will not look good here.

CNET is reporting feedback from Knightscope, saying:

This was "an isolated incident" and is being investigated. 

"No people were harmed or involved in any way," he said. A new K5 is being dispatched to DC.

Update: Allied Universal Director Defends

James Koch [link no longer available], Security Director at the Washington Harbour working for Allied Universal, has commented on the incident:

They should be able to work out this 'bug'. What remains to be seen is how much doing so either (1) increases the cost of the service (e.g., by requiring longer / more complicated on-site optimization) and/or (2) limits its functionalities by restricting where and how it can move.

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