The 5-foot-tall, 300-pound, bullet-shaped robot lay on its side in the shallow water as maintenance workers determined how to best rescue it from its watery demise.
The K5, which uses a bevy of sensors, microphones, cameras and GPS to do its job, appeared to lose some of its cool factor from there, as shoppers and office workers in the building took to social media with images of the accident.
Our D.C. office building got a security robot. It drowned itself.
— Bilal Farooqui (@bilalfarooqui) July 17, 2017
We were promised flying cars, instead we got suicidal robots. pic.twitter.com/rGLTAWZMjn
“Our D.C. office building got a security robot. It drowned itself,” one Twitter user wrote. “We were promised flying cars; instead, we got suicidal robots.”
Another tweet stated that the robot “sleeps with the fishes,” while a third Twitter user commiserated with the K5.
It's ok security robot. It's a stressful job, we've all been there. pic.twitter.com/LQbnntbCRm
💖Sparkle Ops💖✨ (@SparkleOps)
“It’s OK, security robot,” the user wrote. “It’s a stressful job. We’ve all been there.”
Knightscope got in on the fun as well, sharing an image of a K5 wearing swim trunks and sunglasses, with a duck float around its substantial waist.
“I heard humans can take a dip in the water in this heat, but robots cannot,” the tweet read. “I’m sorry.”
BREAKING NEWS: "I heard humans can take a dip in the water in this heat, but robots cannot. I am sorry," said K5 in an official statement. pic.twitter.com/nWC4tubv9w
— Knightscope (@iKnightscope) July 18, 2017
In a less tongue-in-cheek statement, Knightscope told the Post that the "isolated incident" is under investigation. A new K5 will be delivered to Washington Harbour for free this week, the company said.
Learn more about the K5 robot in the video below.
CNN reported last July that one of Knightscope's robots knocked down a 16-month-old boy at a California shopping mall. The boy, whose leg was run over, sustained minor injuries.
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