Getty Image / Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times
As robotic deliveries become more common in major cities, there are still a lot of kinks to work out before the system works without issue. Case in point, this Coco food delivery robot in East Hollywood that destroyed a resident’s property.
The Coco food delivery robot became entangled in her fence, dragged a portion of it away, and uprooted plants in her garden. She says she chased after the robot yelling for it to stop but the food delivery robot was unresponsive to her please.
Food Delivery Robot In East Hollywood Destroys Fence, Garden, And Takes Off
The East Hollywood resident recently spoke with local KTLA reporter Jillian Smukler about the incident. She says she emerged from her home to find the robot in her garden and it had gotten her fence caught in its wheel.
How exactly is one supposed to react when they emerge from a home to find an inanimate object, a food delivery robot, tearing up their precious garden and breaking up their fence? I would be livid and unsure how to react. But the first thing I would do is turn on my camera and start filming to have proof.
She was able to capture footage of the incident on the home’s security camera, footage that was shared by KTLA when they ran a segment on this bizarre story:
The resident told the KTLA reporter “I chased after it and looked like a total crazy person, running after a robot in the middle of the street and yelling at it.” It did not slow down, of course, because it is a robot and doesn’t listen to spoken directions.
Instead she says it continued cruising along, dragging her fence and palm fronds, whipping parked cars with branches along the way. A neighbor corroborated the story, adding “I heard this crunching sound and turned around. The robot had driven through the little fence and was dragging it.”
Robots are a fantastic way to free up time for humans, when utilized correctly. But as we have seen in recent months things can go awry in a hurry.
Waymo Robo-taxis brought the streets of San Francisco to a halt back in December. An Uber Eats robot recently got vaporized by a Brightline train near Miami in a scary incident.
And now this, a resident’s fence and garden getting destroyed by a food delivery robot that only knows one thing: deliver the food and get home. Will these incidents become more commonplace in the future or less common as the underlying technology becomes more sophisticated? Let us know what you think in the Facebook comments or you can email me anytime at cass@brobible.com.