Mystery as robot policeman ‘drowns itself’ in nearby fountain

In the film Robocop, the cyborg policeman is an unstoppable technological avenger which no criminal can overcome.

But the real version seems to be a little more vulnerable – after a hi-tech Knightscope security robot ‘drowned itself’ in a nearby pond.

The 21-stone Knightscope robot is unarmed – and actually doesn’t have any arms – so it may just have toppled over, of course.

The Washington DC-based bot met with its doom in the same week Tesla chief Elon Musk warned that artificial intelligence posed an ‘existential threat’ to the human race.

Maybe, but for now we can probably rest easy.

Wags in the office poked fun at the K5 droid, which stands at five feet tall and is used to patrol office spaces.

Ian Winick said, ‘Washington Harbour has a robotic security guard patrolling the area, and today, that robot rolled itself directly into a fountain.’

The robots are able to spot suspicious behaviour, are able to deliver spoken warnings, and alert controllers with a live video feed.

They patrol on pre-programmed paths, and steer using a combination of GPS, surveillance camera images and LIDAR – laser-radar.

They also have hi-tech ‘extras’ such as being able to rapidly monitor and record car number plates at a rate of up to 300 per minute.

A K5 security robot made headlines earlier this year when it was attacked and knocked over by a drunk man.