Russia: In a bizarre moment captured on the streets of Russia, a robot was seen wandering on the streets creating chaos as vehicles averted and drove past to avoid collision.
‘Promobot IR77’ is an artificially intelligent robot which means it learns from the surrounding and its experiences. This promotional Robot is designed to work in customer relations and interact with humans realistically, can answer questions and remember every person it has ever met.
Created by a lab in the Russian city of Perm, Promobot made news earlier in June when it escaped the high tech lab. It was seen wandering outside in a yard escaping through a gate that was not shut properly.
It created frenzy across the city for 45 minutes until it ran out of battery. A video captured by a passerby showed the stalled machine holding up traffic as baffled-looking police roamed the scene.
Promobot has reportedly escaped a second time giving the creators a hard time to decide whether to disassemble the machine. Oleg Kivokurtsev, co-founder of the research lab that created Promobot IR77, said: "We are currently working on third-generation robots which we plan to launch in autumn. This is why we have given all the robots artificial intelligence (AI)."
He mentioned how attempts at new programming didn't work. Promobot still continued "to move toward the exit," he. So, "we are considering the possibility to dispose of... IR77."
As its days are likely numbered, YouTube users have congregated to Promobot’s channel begging the creators to not pull the plug on the machine, but if some reports are to be believed, it would indicate this stint to be some carefully crafted viral marketing by Kivokurtsev's lab.
That said, there have been other similar incidents in the past, including one in which a Roomba 760 "apparently rebelled against its chores and decided enough was enough."
Viral marketing or not, maybe it's time we all started keeping a much closer eye on any machine that doesn't seem to need our help getting around.
