Even as autonomous robots have encroached on human life, worming their way into our day-to-day routines, taking jobs, and somehow avoiding the level of public outrage that feels appropriate, they now and then deliver a little dose of surreal comedic brilliance. Case in point: according to reporting from 12 News, a DoorDash delivery robot in Arizona apparently decided that an active SWAT operation was no reason to be late with an order.
The robot known as Dot rolled into the middle of a police response in Chandler, Arizona, on June 15 while officers were investigating a possible weapons-related incident. Video from the scene showed the autonomous delivery bot trying to roll through the secured area as officers repeatedly ordered it to turn around. But it cared not, for it was a machine that was going to accomplish its mission, no matter what a fleshy authority figure says. It was going to deliver some burgers or tacos or whatever, even if it died in the process.
Police Had to Remove a DoorDash Robot From the Middle of a SWAT Scene
The robot, unable to appreciate the gravity of the situation, didn’t leave, even when the cops deployed a flashbang device during the operation. And why would it care about that? It doesn’t have our pathetic eyes, filled with sensitive jelly. Nothing will stop it from getting that five-star rating.
Eventually, the cops had to contact DoorDash to dispatch a technician to the scene, who removed the robot and hauled it away in a truck. If you were an onlooker arriving late to the whole thing and you didn’t know any better, you’d assume the delivery robot was the suspect the cops were looking for, and it was being placed in a maximum-security transport vehicle like it was The Joker.
DoorDash reps later said that the little delivery robot behaved exactly as it was designed to, stopping and waiting while the cops managed the hectic scene. Ultimately, nothing major came of it. It didn’t directly interfere with a SWAT operation, but for a brief moment, it seemed like a delivery robot that looked like some kind of futuristic space pram was going to take the lead on a SWAT extraction.
The post A DoorDash Delivery Robot Wandered Into an Active SWAT Scene and Refused to Leave appeared first on VICE.
