Man arrested for ‘assaulting’ a robot, which called the police itself

The K5 is a robotic patrol droid. One of them was attacked by a drunken man in a car park in California last week. Picture: Supplied

POLICE have charged a man who drunkenly attacked a robotic patrol droid in a car park in the United States, after the device called them for help.

The incident occurred in the car park of technology maker Knightscope’s headquarters in Mountain View, California on April 19, authorities said.

Jason Sylvain, 41, was intoxicated when he came across the K5 droid, which was conducting patrols around the building as part of product testing.

The Knightscope K5 is a security patrol droid and one of them was ‘assaulted’ in a US car park. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied

Despite the robot weighing in at a whopping 135 kilograms, he managed to tip it over.

It detected the danger and automatically alerted authorities to an intruder on the property, before sounding a loud siren.

The Knightscope K5 - Autonomous Data Machine1:53

Knightscope's Autonomous Data Machines are now available to patrol in both indoors and outdoors where security is needed.

• April 26th 2017
• a day ago
• /video/video.news.com.au/News/

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Sylvain attempted to flee but was detained by two employees who’d heard the robot’s distress alarm.

Meet K-5 ---the droid taken down by an alleged drunk man last week. Don't worry, he's back on patrol :) details @abc7newsbayarea at 11 pic.twitter.com/0qthDHONQq

— Tiffany Wilson (@TWilsonTV) April 25, 2017

Knightscope’s vice president of marketing Stacy Dean Stephens told CNET the machine did exactly what it was designed to do.

“The ‘assault’ was detected and immediately reported,” Mr Stephens said.

“The alarms on the robot sounded, the suspect attempted to flee the scene and was detained by one of my colleagues and me until the Mountain View Police arrived.”

Children approach a K5 robot assigned to security patrol at an American shopping centre. Picture: Georgia WellsSource:The Wall Street Journal

Sylvain now faces prowling and public intoxication charges.

It’s not the first time an independently operating robot has faced trouble in the real world.

A droid that set out to hitchhike across the US lasted two weeks before it was brutally vandalised in Philadelphia in 2015.

EXCLUSIVE PHOTO: evidence of vandalized hitchhiking robot in #philly. #hitchBOTinUSA trip is over.... pic.twitter.com/VAjvGQzF3u

— AndreaWBZ (@AndreaWBZ) August 1, 2015

And a robotic shop assistant in Japan was kicked by a drunken man in the same year.