Maybe this is how the apocalypse begins. 🤔Not with a shout but with a humanoid robot’s whimper…
During CES 2019, a self-driving Tesla killed a humanoid Promobot just before CES started, Daily Mail reported. Some people think it was a PR stunt to get media attention right before CES. The accident happened on Paradise Road Sunday night, right before CES launched.
A self-driving Tesla ran over a robot. Is this the beginning of the robot apocalypse? Share on XPromobot (the company, not the robot) told Daily Mail that several robots were heading to the booth at about 7 p.m. on Sunday when one “stepped out of line” and got hit by a Tesla Model S that was in autonomous mode. The crash caused serious damage, destroying its head, body, arm, and movement platform.
The Tesla kept on driving 50 meters before stopping. The Tesla passenger, George Caldera, said: “I am so sorry, the robot looks cute. And my sincere apologies to the engineers.”
You can watch a video of the beginning of the apocalyptic robot wars below:
Promobot tweeted about the incident, not too happy:
Look @elonmusk at a Tesla Model S hitting and killing a guiltless robot in Vegas. Your car was under a full self-driving mode. @bheater, @jjvincent, @ingridlunden, @andyjayhawk Check this out!https://t.co/0q605Fdknb
— promobot (@promobot) January 7, 2019
They wrote, “Look @elonmusk at a Tesla Model S hitting and killing a guiltless robot in Vegas. Your car was under a full self-driving mode.”
Some skeptics are claiming it was a stunt and a rope was used to pull down the robot as the Tesla approached.
https://twitter.com/LynnReviews/status/1082716275019780096
That has caused others to claim that Promobot should be sued for libel, which I guess is another way the robot wars could start — in court.
If it was a promo (and sadly, it likely was, despite my desire for this to be true), then Tesla was likely part of the scheme.
In conclusion, it looks like the robot wars aren’t starting quite yet after all.
Or is it? [cue creepy doomsday music]
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