After backlash, animal shelter fires security robot, “effective immediately”

Enlarge / A five-foot-tall (1.5 meter) outdoor K5 security robot patrols the grounds of the Washington Harbour retail-residential center in the Georgetown district of Washington, DC, July 26, 2017. (credit: ROB LEVER/AFP/Getty Images))

As of Thursday morning local time, a San Francisco animal adoption agency will immediately halt its recent use of a controversial security robot.

The move comes after the San Francisco SPCA had been scrutinized for its deployment of a Knightscope K9 to mitigate vandalism and the presence of homeless people at its Mission District office. Knightscope, a Silicon Valley startup, declares on its website that its robots are the "security team of the future."

That robot made headlines when Business Insider reported Tuesday that "Robots are being used to deter homeless people from setting up camp in San Francisco."

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