What a pathetic bunch of people trying to maintain the slave status quo in these comments. WHY are you fighting to maintain a world where people have to work low tier bull shit jobs to survive? The answer, you morons, is to let the robots be and improve society to the point technology said it would. We re the most productive we've ever been in our entire history yet work more than any other time in history. We need work reform, not a robot genocide.
"The robots are constantly monitored and equipped with 12 cameras and two-way audio communication systems. Any improper conduct will be detected immediately. If an incident does occur with a Starship robot, one of our robot rescuers can respond quickly," robot builder Starship Technologies says regarding robot safety, adding that acts of vandalism or theft are reported to authorities.
While that may be true in theory, instances of actual prosecution for theft from robots in cities where they operate have not been easy to discover. As with far more widespread instances of front porch package thieves or shoplifters, despite the volume of video evidence the robots can produce the police have to actually take some investigative steps to identify and locate the suspects
I'm far from a Luddite and I think robots in general are cool. But I kind of don't have an issue with people fucking up autonomous roaming robots. I haven't rationalized that opinion just yet, I guess. Just feels right.
For me, this falls neatly into the "who fucking cares?" category. These things are deployed in very few cities overall and if the technology is ready for wide-release, you better have a more effective defense against theft than you already do if they are already being stolen from
Here's an idea, don't launch these services in low trust, high crime places. In California, people can walk into a fully staffed Walgreens and commit blatant theft with no repercussions; a poor robot out in the world stands no chance.
These robots are a hazard and a nuisance to the pedestrians. I won't shed a single tear for these tincans on wheels. I would not order one of these either.
These things have been around for a few years on the college campus in my hometown, it's not that new and they do work fairly well. Might be that it was a testing ground though
This is actually how rights for robots will be a thing. So the proletariat knows to stay in line and never harm or try to subvert the robots made by the elite class to extract wealth
My brain assumed from the title that this would actually be about robot porch pirates now prowling the neighbourhood. I'm thankful we're not there... yet.