
Robot arrested by Russian police at political rally in Moscow - altstar
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-17/robot-arrested-by-russian-police-at-political-rally-in-moscow/7854764
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drglitch
This article is based on a very poor translation of an announcement put out by
_owners_ of the robot on social media site.

As per the russian news site that covered this:

\- robot was hired by the campaign to "agitate" (e.g. play loud political
messages) for the candidate to passers by as they exited a subway stop in
moscow.

\- police arrived on scene and asked the organizers to move the robot farther
away from the path of the people.

Based on above, the owners put out a press release claiming the robot was
"almost arrested" and announced that between the original "escape from proving
grounds" 2 weeks ago and this, the robot "must now be destroyed ... because it
got too smart".

Pretty good marketing campaign, but definitely not an AI breakthrough :)

edit: format

~~~
guessmyname
Ha ha this makes more sense. In fact, I didn't even read the article nor
watched the video, but immediately upon the load of the page I noticed the
name of the robot: _" Promobot"_ and I immediately jumped to the conclusion
that either the article or the incident was some sort of PR. It reminded me of
the film "I, Robot" [1] where a AI-powered machine supposedly breaks the three
laws of robotics [2]. I wonder if this will happen in the not-so-far future.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot_%28film%29](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot_%28film%29)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics)

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ourmandave
_Police have not confirmed why they detained the machine named Promobot, but
local media was reporting the company behind the robot said police were called
because it was "recording voters' opinions on [a] variety of topics for
further processing and analysis by the candidate's team"._

Here's the perp's website: [http://en.promo-bot.ru/](http://en.promo-bot.ru/)

Anyway, this is so much BS.

I didn't see any handcuffs being use in the video. The thing has arms but
don't appear functional except to hold press releases.

Very poor choice of words. The police don't "detain" your camera or your
computer when they seize evidence.

Up next: Local police arrest Corolla for to many parking violations.

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Normal_gaussian
Handcuffs?

Are these police being paid by the company? Most robot manufacturers only
dream about this sort of publicity.

~~~
eliaspro
What do you think the Robot was sent for to the rally in the first place?

~~~
Normal_gaussian
Having read the article it seems that the robot was hired by the rally
organisers in order to poll and influence the attendees.

So the company likely sent it there in order to complete a contract.

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shawkinaw
Right after another robot disarmed a suspect in LA [0]. Our robot future is
here.

[0] [http://www.laweekly.com/news/an-inattentive-gunman-got-
his-r...](http://www.laweekly.com/news/an-inattentive-gunman-got-his-rifle-
snatched-by-a-robot-cops-say-7392372)

~~~
ourmandave
_The department announced this week that the robot approached from behind and
took the suspect 's rifle as he was lying down on his belly to face a battery
of SWAT team members assembling to take him down._

The robot was being controlled by an officer like an RC car. This makes it
sound like the robot acted autonomously.

~~~
shawkinaw
Yeah, the reality of the story isn't nearly as good as the headline. Also, the
guy wasn't holding the gun at the time. Still, great headline.

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zby
It's not the first time: [http://piratetimes.net/plastic-pirates-put-into-
prison/](http://piratetimes.net/plastic-pirates-put-into-prison/)

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lillesvin
I'm not sure we're at the point where you can hold the robot fully responsible
yet.

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georgeecollins
What a great business opportunity! Tele-presence for social activism.

