Security guard robot ends it all by throwing itself into a watery grave

Enlarge (credit: Bilal Farooqui)

The automation revolution, where most of our jobs are replaced by robots and we spend the rest of our days floating around on rubber rings sipping piña coladas, has hit a snag: a Knightscope K5 security bot appears to have fallen down some stairs and drowned itself in a water feature.

The scene, which took place at the mixed-use Washington Harbour development in Washington DC, was captured by Bilal Farooqui on Twitter. One local office worker reported that the K5 robot had only been patrolling the complex for a few days. Knightscope said in a statement that the “isolated incident” was under investigation, and that a new robot would be delivered to Washington Harbour this week for free.

Here’s what a Knightscope K5 looks like when it isn’t on its side in a pond. It’s about 5 feet (1.5m) tall and weighs 300lbs.

We first wrote about the Dalek-like K5 back in 2014. The first bots were deployed on campuses and shopping complexes near the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. The company has never disclosed how many robots are on active duty, but this is the first time I’ve heard of a K5 deployment outside of Silicon Valley.