I was visiting Stanford University today., to shop in their bookstore for academic philosophy books, walking through the exceedingly upscale Stanford Shopping Center next door to the campus and wasn't paying much attention, and I almost walked into a robot! It was a cone-shaped thing, about 5 feet high, with a rounded point on top and with wheels on the bottom. (It reminded me of a Dalek.) It stopped when I entered its path and it was definitely aware of me. I expected it to scream "Exterminate! Exterminate!" and try to disintegrate me with a ray, but it remained silent. This is why I love Silicon Valley! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Apparently the robots are employed at the shipping center (one of the most upscale in the US) and at various Silicon Valley tech industry corporate campuses as security guards. They have the autonomous ability to size-up situations ("data analytics") and if they judge something is amiss, they automatically alert the human cops. They can also broadcast messages in emergencies, make recordings of events they encounter and stuff like that. They are unarmed. http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2015/08/09/robots-deployed-to-protect-and-serve
Are those robots nose(electronic)less Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Ha! I was half-way expecting the topic header to be a generic intro for everybody else to take into a joke, as in: A Robot Passed Me on the Sidewalk Today!! As we passed he sneezed and splattered computer chips all over the sidewalk. (Very little joke there, but you get the idea)