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Homemade Robot Patrols Atlanta Streets
Josh Fink brings news of an Atlanta resident who has created a remote control robot to scare off criminals during the night. Rufus Terrill, an engineer, uses it to patrol the streets and encourage drug dealers and other shady characters to move on. Local residents call it his "Robocop." From CNN:
"It's a barbecue smoker mounted on a three-wheeled scooter, and armed with an infrared camera, spotlight, loudspeaker and aluminum water cannon that shoots a stream of icy water about 20 feet. Operated by remote control, the robot spotlights trespassers on property down the street from his bar, O'Terrill's. Using a walkie-talkie, Terrill belts out through the robot's loudspeaker, 'That's private property. You guys need to get out of here.'"
C'mon, no "Drop you weapon, you have 15 seconds to comply"??
"Christ what a design! I could eat a handful of iron filings and PUKE a better emergency pump than that!"
If this Dalek was spraying water at me I'd just push it over. Can't be that difficult.
that nobody's stolen it or taken a baseball bat to it.
Yet.
No Longer a Menace to Society.
Alexandria Morrigan born 2/22/01 l. 20.5in wt. 7 lbs. 5 oz.
Hagin adds, "Then, it becomes an assault no matter where it happens." I thought you could... bet it costs less than a taser gun and training too.
Assault? That seriously puts kids and the super soaker company in serious trouble? WTF?
Seriously, assault? Perhaps, since the robot is black, it should only presume to act like the black night in Monty Python's 'Holy Grail' movie?
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That should be Tyrell not Terril
Because you can - or because you should?
To me, the most notable element of the story is what DIDN'T happen: nobody attenpted to destroy the bot, or even tip it over. Here on slashdot, I predict, within the first 20 posts someone will be remarking how they would destroy it if they encountered it. But the people in the story don't. Is it something about being homeless, or something about being a dealer, or something about being a drug user?
The problem with adding lights to the street is that it just allows the criminals to see what they are doing.
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
Forget shooting it... I'd steal that sucker. RoboCriminal, away!
I like to place meaningful quotes in my sig, so people will know that I know what meaningful quotes are.
The trouble with a sprinkler system is that Atlanta is in severe drought
I read an article about it earlier where a homeless guy followed him back from the square and started joking with him about it. If this is a major money-making area for these drug dealers, it's only a matter of time before one of them follows him and shoots him. I like that he's trying to clean up the neighborhood, and the idea is novel, but I can certainly imagine someone getting a little stabby or shooty after getting sprayed with ice cold water while trying to conduct "business".
They're gonna express disapproval.
In spray paint.
On its shiny metal ass.
rj
Drug pushers don't exist. No one has to push drugs -- they sell themselves.
everything in moderation
This is not the droid the /.ers are looking for...
(\__/) This is Lapinator
(='.'=) copy it in your sig
(")_(") so it can take over the world
when the trespassers aren't carrying a weapon.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
It's quite neat that this guy has taken the time to build something to help keep the neighborhood "safer". But what's most interesting is that the "drug dealers" (etc) respond so strongly to the little, harmless robot; and that their response would probably be much more hostile toward police. In addition to a neat experiment in... safety... it's also a neat psychological study. --Dave
Who assigned this guy the rights to go squirting anyone with water or for that matter verbally harassing them. My gut instinct is that the guy who built this wishes he was policeman and doesn't have the proverbial sac to be one. If the streets where he lives are so rampant with criminal activity I would suggest he follows legal measures to do remedy the situation. "Vigilante Justice" is a matter of ethics, and I cannot say I accept this man as my voice. Is it legal to sue a robot for harassment, or the tool that's hiding behind the remote control? What is next? can i build an eye in the sky helicopter to follow and video tape people I do not like, and spray them with urine or feces when they behave in manners i do not approve of?
Talk tough behind a computer screen but when it comes to the real world /.ers are weenies.
Normal people and this includes the homeless and drug dealers don't want a hassle.
The simple fact is that it is terribly easy to setup a neighbourhood watch and get rid of trouble, it just moves to the next area were people don't want a hassle and are unwilling to keep their area safe.
Where ever someone is creating trouble there is someone else who isn't doing anything about it.
Ask yourselve what you would do, as a drugs dealer you rely on you being to dangerous to confront and to much hassle to call the police to go undisturbed, this robot breaks the rules. It doesn't have to be afraid and so it puts the dilemma in the drug dealers shoes, create a scene he wants even less then a normal citizen or just move on.
I think it is an intresting idea, but most of slashdot will probably freak because of the camera and big brother idea's. It ain't a solution and sooner or later it will lead to trouble, but it is an intresting idea nonetheless. Would a CTV setup in a local area that can be seen by anyone in that area be an acceptable way to get a neighbourhood watch going? Or is you neighbour watching what you are doing the same as the state?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Pushers definitely exist...when they give drugs to kids or you know when the first one is free.
Or Peer pressure
I agree most people arent forced via violence but you are underestimating the other pressures of life
Yes, You! In the ski mask. You're trespassing. You knocked me over. Stop that. You and your accomplice are in violation. Cease lifting me up immediately. Don't put me in the bed of that pickup. That's theft. Stop driving away, that's (garbled) Come (garbled) back...
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
I'd aim for the camera myself.
1) A nice siren and flashy lite to attract attention.
2) Some strategically placed handles that can be electrified
3) When all else fails, a beeping self-destruct countdown timer
Life moves pretty fast; if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. -FB
No rule of law there. None, zero. There are *many* areas of Atlanta that have no actual police presence except to come up and pick up bodies or similar things like that. Even the "mad dogs"-that's 4 beefy cops to a cruiser, that's the local street slang term--give a lot of the areas a wide berth unless there is a huge bust going down and there's like 20 cops with full auto weapons handy. I used to have to work in such a neighborhood, doing repairs on rental units. I couldn't leave my work van unlocked for 15 seconds, the bums, crackheads and winos and local gangstas would come and just stand around and wait for you to leave then go right to trying to break in. I am not kidding. I went armed all the time when I was working around there, it was dang scary. A lot of times I had to just give up and leave, not even try to get into a unit and do some work depending on how bad the local street scene was when I showed up. I have found needles in second story gutters I was tasked to repair. I've put in new doors and plumbing fixtures and window screens etc that were gone-stripped out-within an hour, or just destroyed for some sort of sport.
I really don't think you have a handle on how bad some of these neighborhoods are, and kids are trying to grow up there and somehow come out reasonable sane and normal. It's just terrible really. Robert Heinlein action, AAs or abandoned areas.
Forget shooting it... I'd steal that sucker. RoboCriminal, away!
This is slashdot. Here we'd 1) jam the signal to incapacitate & nab it
2) reconfigure & overtake the rf control
3) refill it with gasoline & tape a burning zippo to the nozzle.
4) send it back to the owner and make it look like an accident
Let's just say it wouldn't be coming back to it's owner covered in used condoms.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
So, the bot-operator sits on the Board of the daycare which occupies part of the footprint in question. He doesn't own it. Homeless people are lumped in with drug dealers. He admits to firing the bot's water cannon at 'extremely stubborn' people.
BTW, the 'bot is *not* autonomous as claimed in an earlier comment; the guy is pulling the switch.
Where I come from (which is admittedly not Atlanta or anywhere near there, as indicated by the audio transcription above) firing a water cannon at someone is assault, hassling dope dealers setting up shop in your neighbourhood with a 'bot is really freaking cool, and treating the homeless the same as dope dealers (lifestyle and intention overlaps notwithstanding) is a recipe for escalating social dysfunction.
I admire Mr. Terrill for taking a stand, and doing so with a geek gadget ups his score. I do not understand the lack of differentiation (in both the video report and this thread) between a homeless man and a Misery Merchant. How is it this is not even on the radar?
I suspect I might be on the cusp of a hearty karma smackdown, but WTF?
[17] Leary, T., White, C., Wood, P. R., Bhabha, W. D., and Wirth, N. Lambda calculus considered harmful. In Proceedings
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
And the bot is a hit. He actually talks to the cops that come in from time to time, and they love it. Rufus has to deal with these homeless wastes of space coming in, harassing the customers, and trying to steal shit all the time.
He actually owns most of the entire block, and everyone supports him. That poor shitty homeless shelter down the street sure fucks things up all around the entire area.
He has actually ran for Gov. I believe, and came in last every time, but hell.... I think cities need crazy old guys like this.
Before you bother white knighting for the 'poor homeless chaps' down the road, you should hang out for a couple of hours, and watch them smoke crack, huff paint, and harass poor passer-by.
Hmm... I can imagine a drug dealer or someone building his own robot to anonymously attack and destroy this one. Then this one gets repaired and beefed up, and maybe a few friends add their own robots to the posse. The next time the offending 'bot comes around, the robots swarm around it and take it out. Then this 'bot's builder gets some of his mates and they make bigger and badder robots to combat this new threat; adding chainsaws and flamethrowers.
Soon, the whole thing escalates to a super-serious Robot Wars on the city streets!
Mechanical gangs fighting it out for street territory!
Soon, everyone would be too scared to go out at night in case they run into a gang of robots; barricading themselves in their homes and lying awake in horror to the sounds of the metallic carnage going outside their windows!
Melodrama aside, it would be pretty cool to watch the all-out robotic street brawls --from a distance. It'd be like something out of Terminator.