А pair of would-be thieves were apprehended after they attempted to steal an Uber Eats delivery robot. The culprits were caught thanks to the robot’s built-in camera.
The attempted theft was initially publicized by Serve Robotics’ CEO, Ali Kashani, who shared a video of the incident on Twitter during the summer. The video, which Kashani jokingly referred to as an unsuccessful attempt by a “genius” to steal their robot, has since been removed due to copyright infringement.
Serve Robotics, the company behind the semi-autonomous Uber Eats delivery robot, has a set of principles that include not using their robots for surveillance or any activities that infringe on public privacy, according to CEO Ali Kashani. The company also aims to avoid burdening public resources by refraining from involving the police in minor incidents of robot vandalism.
In the recent theft attempt, however, the police were promptly notified, leading to arrests. The robot managed to escape unscathed and all relevant footage was handed over to the authorities before being deleted by the company.
The duration for which Serve retains recordings from its robots under normal circumstances remains ambiguous. The company’s head of communications, Aduke Thelwell, stated that it is Serve’s policy to regularly delete camera feeds unless required otherwise and to comply with subpoena requests. This lack of clarity regarding the use of video footage has raised some concerns.
