LAS VEGAS, NV — This really should be a movie, and in a way, perhaps it is: A self-driving car hit and ran over a robot at the Consumer Electronics Show International in Las Vegas this week, where all sorts ot techie gadgets and gizmos are unveiled. The robot’s demise was caught on video — and wasn’t it curious, some people snickered, that the video camera was perfectly positioned?
A Russian company says its robot was scooting toward its booth Monday when it somehow veered onto a roadway and into the path of a Tesla Model S self-driving car, killing the “guiltless robot,” Promobot, the company that made the autonomous robot, said in a tweet directed at Tesla founder Elon Musk.
Promobot development director and co-founder Oleg Kivokurtsev is reportedly “vexed” over the robot’s premature “death” and has said the device was brought to Las Vegas from Philadelphia.
Kivokurtsev said Promobot will conduct an internal investigation to find out how the robot hit and run actually happened and how the robot got into the roadway in the first place,The Daily Mail reported.
Though the Tesla Model S is commonly described as a completely self-driving car, there was a person inside.
Many people think the crash between the autonomous robot-car collision was an elaborate publicity stunt. In 2016, another Promobot robot supposedly got loose in Perma, Russia, and caused a traffic jam. BBC, citing the Argumenty i Fakty newspaper, said scientists were trying to “teach” the “vaguely humanoid machine” how to move around independently when it went on the lam through an open gate.
That robot, designed to work in congested areas, is designed to answer questions, broadcast promotional materials and remember everyone it communities with, according to Russian media.
“We were worried that Promobot in the middle of the road created problems for the residents of the district. But there was no negative, rather the opposite,” Kivokurtsev told Russian media at the time. “The drivers calmly drove around the poor fellow, smiling, taking pictures of him. Some slowed down to get a closer look at the robot. Children asked their parents to talk to him.”
Among those who aren’t buying the story offered by Promobot in a statement accompanying a video on YouTube is NBC technology reporter Olivia Solon, who share video of the 2016 “escape” in Russia on her Twitter account.
Twitter user @btlflame is pretty sure the whole thing was a stunt and called attention to a rope in the bottom left quadrant of the frame.
However it happened, Promotobot wasn’t stuck with a booth with nothing to exhibit at the Consumer Electronics Show. It still had six robots in its booth, according to a press release on the company’s Facebook page.
The Consumer Electronics Show concludes Friday in Las Vegas. Among some of the more interesting items unveiled at the show:
Beijing-based ForwardX unveiled Ovis, the latest product in its smart suitcase line the company says can “comprehend what it is seeing.” It uses a series of sensors to remain by the side of its owner, and can avoid potential collisions with obstacles or other travelers. When going through security, going up stairs or loading it into an overhead compartment on the aircraft, Ovis is easily switched to manual mode by grabbing the handle.
Timekettle unveiled WT2 Plus, an earpiece that gives real-time translations of conversations in different language. Each person in the conversation wears an earphone, and the handsfree device powered by Google and Microsoft can translate 21 languages. It pairs with both iPhone and Android devices.
Walnut Tech’s internet-connected skateboard Spectra is for people who may or may not know how to skateboard and helps people perfect their techniques without getting hurt. The smart board moves forward when the person does and goes backward when the boarder leans back.
Lead photo: This photo taken in 2016 shows a version of Promobot, made by a Russian company that is exhibiting six of the autonomous devices as the International Consumer Electronics Show in Last Vegas, which runs through Jan. 11. One of the company’s Promobots was damaged when it was hit by a self-driving car on a busy Las Vegas highway. (AP Photo/Francois Mori: File)