Parents Upset After Their Boy Was 'Knocked Down and Run Over' By A Security Robot (abc7news.com)

An anonymous reader writes from a report via KGO-TV: PSA: Beware of dangerous security robots at the Stanford Shopping Center! After a young boy was "knocked down and run over" by one of the Stanford Shopping Center security robots, the boy's parents want to help prevent others from getting hurt. KGO-TV reports: "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." Teng said, "He was crying like crazy and he never cries. He seldom cries." They are concerned as to why the robot didn't detect Harwin. "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. The parents said a security guard told them another child was hurt from the same robot just days before. They're hoping their story will help other parents be more careful the next time they're at the Stanford Shopping Center. The robots are designed by Knightscope and come equipped with self-navigation, infra-red cameras and microphones that can detect breaking glass to support security services.

Comments

Re:The wave of the future

[Bruce Perens]

Also, read Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities Per State

who edits these days?

[Anonymous Coward]

The phrase "knocked down and run over" should not be in quotes since it is simply describing what happened.
Quotes are used to either
- distance the author from a statement--meaning that the author does not agree with or holds suspicion over the validity of the statement
- actually quote what a person said (which in some cases overlaps with the reasoning of the first item)

In this article neither is the case.

Bot manufacturer's press release here:

[Ellis D. Tripp]

http://www.businesswire.com/ne...