Man claims he was attacked by delivery robot
A British man said a Starship delivery robot “seemed to have a mind of its own” after claiming it attacked him and his dog.
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A British man said a Starship delivery robot “seemed to have a mind of its own” after claiming it attacked him and his dog.
56-year-old Brian Dawson said he was attacked by the delivery robot while walking his dog, 12-year-old German shepherd Pippa, according to British media reports.
The man from Milton Keynes, a town north-west of London, has told the Sun that the robot rammed into his dog and then hit his leg after he kicked the machine in response, despite it being programmed to avoid collisions.
Dawson said he then took his dog out of harm's way and came back to take note of the robot’s serial number or QR code before it smashed into his leg again, according to the tabloid.
He told the paper that the robot’s sensors “clearly” didn’t work, and the droid “seemed to have a mind of its own.” The robot is part of a robot delivery fleet at the local branch of Co-op, a grocery store chain.
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Dawson, who’s a delivery driver at Tesco, a supermarket chain, said he shoved the robot on its side, but that triggered an alarm, so he pushed it back upright.
The robot then retreated to its Co-op branch in Milton Keynes. Co-op delivery robots have been operating in the town for five years, and the attack was an “isolated incident,” the company’s spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
The robots are operated by Starship Technologies, which told the paper it takes the safety of these deliveries “very seriously” and was in contact with Dawson.
The company was formed nine years ago by Skype co-founders and operates thousands of delivery robots globally.