The Promobot IR77 made headlines last week when it escaped from its lab and began roaming on the roads of Perm in Russia. It appears as if the robot enjoyed its day out so much that it made another bid for freedom.
Promobot IR77 is an AI robot that learns from its experiences. In this case, it appears as if the previous experience gave it a lingering taste for freedom.
The makers of the robot are baffled by this behavior. They have tried reprogramming it twice, but all went in vain. The robot has not aborted its attempts to escape, and they are now considering scrapping it. The team reports that the other robots from the same lineup do not depict any anomalous behavior.
The bot had been programmed as an obstacle avoidance robot. The first escape was attributed to negligence when a gate was left open while the Promobot IR77wandered in the courtyard.
Oleg Kivokurtsev, co-founder research firm that created Promobot IR77 expressed his concerns about the project.
“We are currently working on third-generation robots which we plan to launch in autumn. This is why we have given all the robots artificial intelligence (AI). We have changed the AI system twice, so now I think we might have to dismantle it.”
Russian scientists have been working on the design of Promobot, abbreviated form of Promotional Robot, to help in customer relations. The designers envision a robot that could interact with the humans in a natural manner, respond to queries and remember those persons that it comes across.
Previously, the Austrian cleaning robot that committed suicide by switching itself on and climbing onto the hot plate where it burned to death demonstrated that the robots can also have a mind of their own!