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A Delivery Robot Spontaneously Burst Into Flames (theverge.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the you're-fired dept.

Long-time Slashdot reader AmiMoJo shares this article from the Verge: An autonomous food delivery robot burst into flames on a Berkeley, California walkway, as first reported by The Daily Californian. Kiwi, the startup that makes and manages the one hundred-strong fleet of robots, issued a statement to say that the fire was quickly extinguished by a passerby before the city's fire department arrived and doused the machine in foam.... It said that it believed the fire was caused by human error, when a faulty battery was manually inserted into the robot, eventually causing thermal runaway -- the same issue that resulted in the recall of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 phones. Kiwi says that a new piece of software will "rigorously monitor the state of each battery" to prevent anything like this from happening again.

Kiwi said the incident resulted in "some smoke and minor flames." But video captured of the event shows the robot engulfed in the kind of fiercely burning fireball typically associated with battery fires.
Though no one was hurt, Kiwi's fleet of 100 delivery robots was still deactivated while the company investigated the fiery wreck.

25 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. water? by ChoGGi · · Score: 1

    Is he throwing water on a lithium fire?

    1. Re:water? by ChoGGi · · Score: 1

      ... edit? Hard to see the extinguisher past his leg.

    2. Re:water? by sjames · · Score: 2

      That's just the natural evolution of a lithium battery fire. The extinguisher appears to be a typical ABC dry powder extinguisher.

    3. Re:water? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      Hard to see the extinguisher past his leg.

      Is that a fire extinguisher or are you just happy to see me?

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    4. Re:water? by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      Lithium-ion cells contain practically no elemental lithium. They do contain a lot of lithium compounds, but no significant amount of elemental lithium. The electrolytes are very flammable though, which is why they go up in flames so readily.

  2. Ai ai ai! by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    a new piece of software will "rigorously monitor the state of each battery" to prevent anything like this from happening again.

    Software controls their battery safety? Good thing software is so reliable and unhackable.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re: Ai ai ai! by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Kiwi is the robot maker, not the battery maker. Thus, I don't think they are talking about embedded software, unless they make their own batteries.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    2. Re:Ai ai ai! by sjames · · Score: 1

      They should go with IMR batteries. They don't have as much capacity, but they are also much much less likely to go up in a fireball even if abused.

    3. Re:Ai ai ai! by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      ICR = LiCoO2 (also called LCO)
      IMR = LiMn2O4 (also called LMO)
      IFR = LiFePO4 (also called LFP)

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    4. Re:Ai ai ai! by PPH · · Score: 1

      Written by a Boeing subcontractor.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  3. Hey! Wait a minute! by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 1

    Am I the only one who saw Jason Statham putting on sunglasses as he walked away from it?

  4. That’s normal by nospam007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Customers complained that the pizzas were cold, so the AI compensated for the next delivery.

  5. Not surprising by dunkelfalke · · Score: 2

    That robot probably has a second job as a drummer for the Spinal Tap.

    --
    "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    1. Re:Not surprising by tquasar · · Score: 1

      The robut became self-aware.

  6. They use Galaxy Note 7s as controllers? by mnemotronic · · Score: 1
    Wouldn't it be ironic if they used refurbished Galaxy Note 7s as controllers?

    Hey we got 'em cheap cause of the melted plastic smell

    --
    The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
  7. Oh.. my god! by Mats+Svensson · · Score: 1

    Was it delivering butter at the time?

    1. Re:Oh.. my god! by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      Fortunately it was delivering marshmallows. A second robot was carrying graham crackers and chocolate bars.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
  8. Re:Them Turrists Done Tooken The Nest Steppe by Nivag064 · · Score: 1

    "I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am."

    Heisenberg Navigation & Propulsion Systems, delivering unrivalled precision & accuracy (see note a), far surpassing anything else on the market!

    News Flash: top military commanders are horrified at Trump's tweet saying that Heisenberg equipped ICBM's will be configured to deliver nuclear strike capability in seconds!

    Note (a): accuracy subject to the limitations of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle: see http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.g...

  9. Glitter and fart-spray? by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    That is so December 18th.. REAL people make their package carrying robot blow the fsck up and burn the thief to a cinder!

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  10. I never considered ... by Candyban · · Score: 1

    I never considered robots can also suffer from a brun-out Probably his colleagues did not spot the early signs, like constant whining and picking up smoking

  11. It is a spectacular exemple of... by LordHighExecutioner · · Score: 1

    a CPU executing a HCF instruction!

  12. Food delivery robot by PPH · · Score: 1

    Someone ordered five star Thai food.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  13. Re:Humanity by ZombieCatInABox · · Score: 1

    So, is that the new excuse nowaday for being a foul-mouthed, ill-bred asshole ? "Local culture" ?

  14. Of even more interest... by alleycat0 · · Score: 1

    ...is that students on the campus where this occurred later held a candlelight vigil for the thing - this should pique the interest of psychologists studying human-robot interaction.

    --
    I am not a number - I am a free man!
  15. Re:Them Turrists Done Tooken The Nest Steppe by hyades1 · · Score: 1

    Well, yeah. OK. I maybe have some slight clue where I am. But my Heisenberg Drive still works well enough.

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.