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A robot dog owner is offering a $500 reward after his beloved pet filmed the exact moment he was allegedly kicked in the head by a woman with her horrified friend running to the machine’s aid.
- Robot dog owner shared video of a woman kicking her pet on a city street
- Unitree-designed robot sustained more than $2,000 worth of damage
- The owner is offering a $500 reward for help in determining the woman’s identity.
A robot dog owner is offering a $500 reward to find a woman who kicked him in the ‘frontal sensors’ while he was in the middle of building a 3D map of Brisbane.
Mark Thunder shared a video of the unknown woman kicking her pet robodog, named Stampy, as she jogged down a street in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane’s CBD on Sunday night.
The woman, dressed in white and wearing heavy boots, was filmed kicking the robot in front of her friend, then raised her arms, crouched down and patted it.
“Her friend in the video was very apologetic for her behavior and I was willing to let it slide before analyzing the damage,” Trueno said.
Owner of robot dog Stampy (pictured) is offering a cash reward to find the person who kicked him on ‘front sensors’
The woman lashed out at the robodog as it jogged down a Brisbane street on Sunday night.
Forward-facing depth perception stereo cameras, ultrasonic distance-measuring sensors, and LED array no longer work. After examining the onboard video, it’s pretty clear this person thought it was funny.
Thunder said he was open to discussing an agreement with the woman to cover the cost of the damage.
The model of the robot is a Go1 made by Unitree which retails for about A$3,900 plus another $1,400 to ship from the US.
“Considering that it probably costs more than your own car, it’s just a blatant disregard for other people’s property,” Trueno said.
“I just don’t understand what inspires someone to do that. Just because they’ve never seen one before.
Her friend seemed less than impressed with the unnecessary aggression towards the robot.
He then crouched down and patted the $3,900 robot before it continued on its way.
He estimated that there was “probably a couple of major damages” to the robot.
Commenters on the video said they hoped Trueno would be able to recoup at least part of the cost of the repair.
“So unnecessary and so hard to fix these things because it’s a niche market and everything is custom,” said one person.
“She limped away like she hurt her foot,” added another.
“She would be first on the list when the robots take over,” a third quipped.
“The robot was heading straight for her, in self-defense,” added a fourth.
Trueno said he is willing to discuss the cost of the damages with the woman and not involve the police.
Unitree Robotics is a new Chinese company that is developing its robot dogs for the consumer market, unlike the more famous version created by the American company Boston Dynamics, which is geared towards government uses.
The Go1 is much smaller than Boston Dynamics’ Spot model, but looks and moves in a similar fashion, which some people have described as an ‘uncanny valley’ type of haunting sight.
While Spot has been tested in industrial, hospital, and law enforcement situations, the $100,000+ price tag puts it out of reach for most people.
However, Unitree has lowered the price and is trying to make pet robots as common and accepted as drones.