If you attack a robot, it might photograph you in the act

Humans haven’t quite reached a WALL-E-like society where robots care for our every possible need, but we do have a few roving security robots that can monitor places like banks, casinos, malls, and hospitals so human security guards can catch a break. Some people don’t seem to like the new robot cops: earlier this month in Hayward, California, a security robot captured video of an alleged attacker shortly before he bowled it over.

Here’s a video from Knightscope, which makes the robot that was attacked:

Knocking over one of these robots isn’t something you’d likely do by accident — Knightscope says it weighs 398 lbs. But most people shouldn’t worry about running into them at all, for now. Knightscope tells The Verge that there are only about 75 Knightscope robots deployed in 15 US states right now, and a report at Vox suggests these types of bots won’t replace security guards anytime soon: Slack has two robots from Cobalt to help secure its offices, but still employs the same three night guards it did before it got the robots.

The bots help on-duty guards with minor tasks like scanning a doorway, but humans still need to intervene if a robot detects something out of the ordinary, and robots from both Knightscope and Cobalt don’t have weapons, so they can’t use any force. So tackling one of these robots is a bit of a cheap shot.

Knightscope says the robot that was attacked has made a “speedy recovery.” Let’s just hope it can stay away from toddlers and fountains.