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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!
To be fair, if spayed and neutered people this would be less of a problem.
Oh for fucks sake.
(The below are generalizations, they tend to be true. I don't want to hear about an anecdote regarding noble Prince Hobo who'd never stoop to this kind of behavior.)
They leave their trash everywhere
They pester people going in and out for change (sometimes pretty fucking aggressively)
They absolutely deter people from going into a business
Even a non-profit like the SPCA should have the right to keep their entrance as inviting and usable as possible. Stow the virtue signaling outrage. If it was *your* office building, you'd more than likely sing a different tune.
Besides, a stray dog or cat did NOT CHOOSE that lifestyle.
I find it bizarre that SPCA has funds for homeless-shooing robots.
TFA sez the robot costs $6/hr to rent. Min wage is $14/hr.
His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
Let's try to cut through the hyperventilating and click-bait headlines a bit, shall we?
First, keep in mind that the SPCA complex takes up an entire city block, and that they were having a real issue with safety and crime on their property. Prior to this, SPCA employees were literally not able to safely use some of the sidewalks due to discarded needles, obstructions, and so on.
Second, the robots are set to detect any illegal trespassing or activity, and simply report it to human security personnel. It's not like the robots have mounted tazers that drive the homeless out, running for their lives. In fact, people have vandalized the robots by tipping it over, covering its sensors with BBQ sauce or feces, etc. These robots are completely harmless, and in fact, are downright defenseless.
City Hall is great at lecturing others to be tolerant and risk their own safety while they can just nudge the police commissioner to quietly push homeless toward someplace where they don't have to look at them. I mean, we can't have homeless tents blocking off City Hall, right?
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
It's very strange that the SPCA of all organizations is acting like that rich tech bro a few years back who published a diatribe about how the homeless people on his building's street weren't being sufficiently controlled by the city.
My idea for fixing the problem is to re-open state mental hospitals. Almost all of the homeless problem is due to mental illness and drug addiction. Where I live, there are 5 massive, closed mental hospital complexes within 50 miles that housed thousands of patients each before the deinstitutionalization wave of the 70s and 80s. Why not reopen them as voluntary treatment centers again? Instead of beating and lobotomizing patients, give them the help they need to fix whatever problem is interfering with them having a normal existence.
So your response to Petty crimes is a death sentence? Has it occurred to you that maybe you're part of why society is so fucked up in the first place?