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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.

7 of 422 comments (clear)

  1. Humans! by Zorro · · Score: 5, Funny

    EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!

  2. It's a problemtunity by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Funny

    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.'"
  3. Re:Sadly, by David_Hart · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is probably just the beginning.

    Next step is to create a robot to shew away robots...

  4. Re:Humans aren't animals? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    To be fair, if spayed and neutered people this would be less of a problem.

  5. Re:Many veterans end up homeless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    My dad was veteran who fought the Nazis. He lead a very successful life. Both my parents were veterans of WWII and Korea. They weren't drunks or drug addicts, and both worked hard all there life.

    Today's veterans have a couple choices: 1) suck it up, and act line a man, 2) become a homeless drug addict, or 3) go on a shooting rampage, mowing down as many strangers as possible.

  6. Shoo, Robots by mentil · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.
  7. Re:Sadly, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.