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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.
Most of the homeless are lazy and wouldn't have any interest in learning the necessary skills to construct robots. It's just like the fact that most of the people who are on welfare choose to live that way.
Yes because none of them would suffer their whole lives from fetal alcohol syndrome or anything.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
The fact that government policies enable sloth doesn't help things. Round 'em all up and put 'em to work if they won't do it themselves.
Nope, the ACLU would just sue to shut them down again. Keeping people imprisoned like that is wrong and against ACLU ideals. Since when is mental illness a crime? If they were voluntary treatment centers, nobody would go there. Ever see the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!