San Francisco SPCA uses a robot to chase away homeless people, because cruelty to humans is just fine

True, and not the only bot that has issues…

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:heart: Humans are animals too SPCA!!! :heart:

beat me too it, but worth saying twice. :slight_smile:

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Poor robot!

brb, notifying SPCR

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I see what ya did there!

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Now I’m wondering if it was just a coincidence that homeless were hanging out in front of the SPCA with BBQ sauce? lol. Sounds more like the robot interrupted dinner plans.

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Man, the beat cops are going to be ticked about losing their job to automation. And they’re one of the few jobs that still has a union. /s

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ASPCA? WTF? What does chasing homeless humans away from your office have to do with helping needy domestic animals? Just WTF? For Yuletide I always give all my friends sponsorships from ASPCA, Best Friends and U.S. Humane Society. I have to rethink ASPCA. You see ASPCA? You see? Just WTF???

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I’m sure that there are some absolutely precious explanations of why filthy homeless are an unpardonable intrusion on public space; while a trundling surveillance dalek is a completely reasonable and neighborly addition to the vibrant life of the sidewalk…

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Homeless people all over the west coast are getting harrased by programmable robots with limited functions. Here are some all-terrain robots the Seattle PD uses to expose homeless people to elements.

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Can someone clarify how the robot is chasing away homeless people? From what I read it merely travels along the sidewalk at 3mph. I didn’t see anything that indicated it could take any other sort of action. Are the cops yelling at the homeless via a speaker on the robot or something?

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It is probably notable that, in both the English and American cases, the society for the prevention of cruelty to animals came first. (RSPCA 1824, NSPCC, 1884; ASPCA, 1866, NYSPCC, 1874)

Not that this would surprise anyone who has compared a puppy or wee catling to a human infant and found the latter grossly deficient.

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And how does it determine that someone is a homeless person?

If I’m standing there using my phone, and a robot hassles me, especially physically, it’s going to wake up a piece at a time as an organ donor for my projects.

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The robot travels the sidewalk so that the homeless will find it difficult to sleep there or pitch a tent. Luckily the homeless are smarter than the robots and their SPCA masters combined.

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I have seen the future.

You need only read a couple of science fiction novels or watch a few movies to see how rolling robots out as an arm of law enforcement turns out. The SPCA is not thinking long-term about using this technology in this fashion.

But what do you expect? When you visit countries that should have a large homeless population, but don’t, you find they have a few things in common: national health care, clean and attended public restrooms, and plenty of cheap public options for bathing. We can’t afford all of that in America and also have the greatest military ever. So we end up with a Roomba for the homeless.

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http://i53.tinypic.com/2e1a9np.jpg

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K9 Mark I Left with Leela in The Invasion Time
K9 Mark II Left with Romana in Warrior’s Gate
K9 Mark III first appears in K9 and Company.

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would be nice if we were warned beforehand. @codinghorror

You’re forgetting K9 Mark IV, in School Reunion and Sarah Jane adventures.

sarah-jane-adventures-k9-affirmative

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