PALO ALTO, Calif. (KGO) — The parents of a young boy who got knocked down and run over by a security robot at Stanford Shopping Center want to get the word out to prevent others from getting hurt.
They said the machine is dangerous and fear another child will get hurt.
Stanford Shopping Center’s security robot stands 5′ tall and weighs 300 pounds.
It amuses shoppers of all ages, but last Thursday, 16-month-old Harwin Cheng had a frightening collision with the robot. “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,” Harwin’s mom Tiffany Teng said.
Harwin’s parents say the robot ran over his right foot, causing it to swell, but luckily the child didn’t suffer any broken bones.
Harwin also got a scrape on his leg from the incident. “He was crying like crazy and he never cries. He seldom cries,” Teng said.
Stanford Shopping Center and Knightscope, the Mountain View company that built the robot have yet to respond to our emails and voice mail messages.
The shopping center introduced the robot last year.
It’s designed to alert authorities of abnormal noises, sudden environmental changes, and known criminals.
But the fact that it didn’t seem to detect Harwin is something shoppers find disconcerting. “Garage doors nowadays, we’re just in a day in age where everything has some sort of a sensor,” shopper Ashle Gerrard said.
“Maybe they have to work out the sensors more. Maybe it stopped detecting or it could be buggy or something,” shopper Ankur Sharma said.
Harwin’s parents say what’s even more worrisome is that a security guard told them another child was hurt from the same robot days before.
They hope by sharing their story, other parents will be careful the next time they’re at Stanford Shopping Center.
https://twitter.com/liliankim7/status/752741535381229568
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http://abc7news.com/news/parents-upset-after-stanford-mall-robot-injures-child/1423093/
I see a lawsuit in that company’s future, and those stupid robots are likely to end up in the unemployment line.
It’s the perfect robot for law enforcement, it preys on the innocent and has no regard for human life.
Come to think of it, that robot is probably more capable of independent thought than the typical pig.
Robotic cars are running people over, and this one, that looks like the Jetson’s robot maid “rosie”, just ran over a kid.
For all the fear mongering you hear about robo-cops shooting us in the street, and robot soldiers on the battlefield, understand that there are still a lot of bugs to iron out of this technology before it’s reliable, and real, usable robots are still very limited.
It reminded me more of one of those Daleks from Doctor Who. “Exterrrrminaaaate!”
Harwin Cheng
Teng said
Ankur Sharma
what wonderful old irish names!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Haha! His first driving lesson. I hope his driving isn’t as bad as the robot’s. Uh, er….nevermind..
The face of the robot even has a scowl.
““Maybe they have to work out the sensors more. Maybe it stopped detecting or it could be buggy or something,” shopper Ankur Sharma said.”
Gee….here’s an idea, GET RID OF THE TRASH CAN ALTOGETHER!!!
No one wants it and no one needs it! It’s just corporations trying to save a penny on labor and get us used to a Terminator type future.
I can’t believe I live in such a stupid country that accepts this shit. Of course they accept things like “Pokemon GO”, so what do I expect, right? Like children who have never grown up. What has this country become. The dumbing down of America. That’s all there is to it.
The parents must have been pussy’s… I would of kicked the sht out of it..
Mangled, twisted and crying hydraulic fluid all over the floor, is how they’d find ’em robits, were that me child.
DISCOMBULATE!!
Well, if the police programmed it, then I would say all it’s systems are functioning within normal parameters. Trying to turn a toddler into street pizza is exactly what I would expect psychopathic police would do. I’m surprised it didn’t back up and have another go.