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Robots Are Being Used To Shoo Away Homeless People In San Francisco (qz.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Quartz: San Francisco's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has been ordered by the city to stop using a robot to patrol the sidewalks outside its office, the San Francisco Business Times reported Dec. 8. The robot, produced by Silicon Valley startup Knightscope, was used to ensure that homeless people didn't set up camps outside of the nonprofit's office. It autonomously patrols a set area using a combination of Lidar and other sensors, and can alert security services of potentially criminal activity.
In a particularly dystopian move, it seems that the San Francisco SPCA adorned the robot it was renting with stickers of cute kittens and puppies, according to Business Insider, as it was used to shoo away the homeless from near its office. San Francisco recently voted to cut down on the number of robots that roam the streets of the city, which has seen an influx of small delivery robots in recent years. The city said it would issue the SPCA a fine of $1,000 per day for illegally operating on a public right-of-way if it continued to use the security robot outside its premises, the San Francisco Business Times said.
In a particularly dystopian move, it seems that the San Francisco SPCA adorned the robot it was renting with stickers of cute kittens and puppies, according to Business Insider, as it was used to shoo away the homeless from near its office. San Francisco recently voted to cut down on the number of robots that roam the streets of the city, which has seen an influx of small delivery robots in recent years. The city said it would issue the SPCA a fine of $1,000 per day for illegally operating on a public right-of-way if it continued to use the security robot outside its premises, the San Francisco Business Times said.
EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!
This seems cruel and unnecessary. Let's also consider that many veterans who have served our country in combat have trouble adjusting to civilian life. Many of them end up homeless, because we abandon them after they serve us fighting for our freedom. American troops are fighting against terrorists in places like Afghanistan and Iraq so we can be free. Shouldn't we thank our brave men and women by helping them adjust to life back in America rather than running them off with robots? Without the sacrifices by American soldiers for our freedom, we wouldn't have the luxuries we enjoy. We should be donating to help our veterans instead of the cruelty of chasing them away with robots.
There's homeless hackers who need robot parts, too. Won't someone think of the homeless hackers?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
This is probably just the beginning.
Next step is to create a robot to shew away robots...
To be fair, if spayed and neutered people this would be less of a problem.
San Francisco recently voted to cut down on the number of robots that roam the streets of the city, which has seen an influx of small delivery robots in recent years. The city said it would issue the SPCA a fine of $1,000 per day for illegally operating on a public right-of-way if it continued to use the security robot outside its premises
Maybe the city should hire the homeless people to shoo away the robots, and issue tickets.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
This is probably just the beginning.
Next step is to create a robot to shew away robots...
I bet you could hire a homeless person on the cheap.