Robot Tries and Fails to Keep Building Clear of Homeless in San Francisco

Never send R2-D2 on a job that calls for the Terminator:

A robot patrolling a street in San Francisco to ward off homeless people has been removed after complaints from locals, who also knocked it over and smeared it with feces.

These days feces go with San Francisco the way cars used to go with Detroit.

The Knightscope K5 security robot was deployed by the San Francisco branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) to deter homeless people from sleeping and loitering near its building.

Even this feeble attempt to clean up the streets of San Francisco is strongly discouraged by the bureauweenies in charge:

[The SPCA] was forced to take away the 400-pound machine as it was operating in the public realm without a permit, and threatened with a $1,000-a-day (£745) fine.

The same bureauweenies do nothing to prevent the bums who have been washing up there since the hippie days from turning the otherwise beautiful city into an open sewer and menacing employees as they try to come and go at work.

The robot’s nickname is K9. Presumably the SPCA has real canines at its disposal. Maybe a few Doberman Pinschers could be trained to keep the entrance clear of derelicts.

On a tip from Steve T.