Technology
Delivery robot catches fire at UC Berkeley campus, students hold vigil
A KiwiBot, an automated food delivery robot which is present on UC Berkeley’s campus, caught fire on Friday afternoon.
In a post, the company explained the incident was due to a faulty battery which had been mistakenly installed instead of a functioning one.
The errant battery started smoldering while the robot was idling, leading to smoke, then fire outside the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union.
“A member of the community acted swiftly to extinguish the flames using a nearby fire extinguisher. Within moments of the incident occurring, it had already been contained,” the post read.
“The Berkeley Fire Department arrived shortly thereafter to secure the scene, and doused the robot with foam ensuring there was no risk of re-ignition.”
Some people caught the incident on camera, where a crowd gathered around the blaze.
After the incident, students set up a candlelight vigil for the fallen robot. On Facebook, the robot was called a “hero” and a “legend,” according to The Daily Californian.
KiwiBot added that following the incident it pulled robots from service, and that orders in progress were delivered by hand.
The company added no customers or members of the public were at risk, and that it has installed custom software to monitor the battery’s state.
Since 2017, KiwiBot has been used to deliver food around the UC Berkeley campus, where there are more than 100 robots operating as part of the fleet.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;
n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,
document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1453039084979896’);
if (window._geo == ‘GB’) {
fbq(‘init’, ‘322220058389212’);
}
if (window.mashKit) {
mashKit.gdpr.trackerFactory(function() {
fbq(‘track’, “PageView”);
}).render();
}
-
Entertainment6 days ago
Teen AI companion: How to keep your child safe
-
Entertainment6 days ago
‘Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’ review: A delightful romp with an anti-AI streak
-
Entertainment5 days ago
‘Dragon Age: The Veilguard’ review: BioWare made a good game again
-
Entertainment5 days ago
Polling 101: Weighting, probability panels, recall votes, and reaching people by mail
-
Entertainment4 days ago
‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 4 ending explained: Who killed Sazz and why?
-
Entertainment4 days ago
5 Dyson Supersonic dupes worth the hype in 2024
-
Entertainment3 days ago
When will we have 2024 election results online?
-
Entertainment3 days ago
Social media drives toxic fandom. Is there a solution?