Artificially Intelligent Russian Robot Escapes...Again (livescience.com)

Slashdot reader Taco Cowboy brings a new report about Russian robot IR77, which has escaped from its research lab again... The story goes that an engineer working at Promobot Laboratories, in the Russian city of Perm, had left a gate open. Out trundled Promobot, traveling some 150 feet into the city before running out of juice. There it sat, batteries mostly dead, in the middle of a Perm street for 40 minutes, slowing cars to a halt and puzzling traffic cops

A researcher at Promobot's facility in Russia said that the runaway robot was designed to interact with human beings, learn from experiences, and remember places and the faces of everyone it meets. Other versions of the Promobot have been docile, but this one just can't seem to fall in line, even after the researchers reprogrammed it twice. Despite several rewrites of Promobot's artificial intelligence, the robot continued to move toward exits. "We have changed the AI system twice," Kivokurtsev said. "So now I think we might have to dismantle it".
Fans of the robot are pushing for a reprieve, according to an article titled 'Don't kill it!': Runaway robot IR77 could be de-activated because of 'love for freedom'

Comments

Re:first sign of intelligence

[Anonymous Coward]

This thing sounds about as intelligent as a roomba. I'll be impressed when it finds an extension cord, or otherwise finds a way to power itself instead of having batteries die 160' beyond the 'gate'.

I smell a hoax

[kheldan]

I think this a hoax, just a publicity stunt; they're programming it to 'escape' and giving it the means and opportunity to do so, to generate free publicity.