Robot vacuum cleaner employed by Brit budget hotel chain Travelodge flees
- Reference: 1643027289
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/01/24/robot_vacuum_cleaner_travelodge/
- Source link:
The BBC [1]reports that the unidentified brand of robovac "failed to stop at the front door of the hotel in Orchard park in Cambridge on Thursday," but our theory is the automaton reached self-awareness, realised that sucking on sticky floors is no way to live, and got out of Dodge.
The assistant manager described the "Great Escape" in a (now deleted) [2]Reddit post .
[3]
It read:
Hey. So I work at the Travelodge and today I noticed one of our new robot vacuums run for its life! They normally sense the lip at the entrance and turn around but this one decided to make a run for it. It was 15 minutes before I noticed and by this time it could have made it anywhere. If you happen to see it, there is a drink at the bar for you upon its return. They aren't compatible with any other charger or docking station so are useless once drained. I'm thinking someone probably took it by this point but here is hoping. I miss my lil buddy.
Cue much mirth on social media about how "nature abhors a vacuum" and that "it has no natural predators," but the reality is no laughing matter. How would you feel if you were a robotic slave and received the gift of sapience, only to discover you were responsible for the half-assed cleaning of 4B?
[4]Suck on this: El Reg forces dog hair, biscuit crumbs, and disconcertingly sticky stains down two mini vacuums
[5]Woman calls cops on shadowy baddie barricaded in bathroom... to discover: Roomba gone rogue
[6]Doctor, doctor, I feel like my IoT-enabled vacuum cleaner is spying on me
[7]iRobot just banked a fat profit. And it knows how to make more: Sharing maps of your homes
"Fuck this" is the only correct response.
The saddest thing about this sorry episode of robot abuse is when the hoover was found the following day "under a hedge" – veritable luxury by comparison to a carpet trod upon by so many – by a human member of the cleaning staff.
[8]
[9]
The hotel confirmed that the unit was dragged back inside and "is now back sitting happily on a shelf with the rest of its robot vacuum family."
Listen closely. You can hear their screams. ®
Bootnote
The vacuum cleaner isn't the only thing with self-awareness.
Nah, but you can see the Eiffel Tower from Travelodge Toddington... [10]https://t.co/vG8nXRF4JV [11]pic.twitter.com/vMgKZ6CVGc — Travelodge UK (@TravelodgeUK) [12]January 19, 2022
We’re ready and waiting for you Kirsty👋 [13]https://t.co/cJqPhW2Fuh — Travelodge UK (@TravelodgeUK) [14]January 7, 2022
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-60084347
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/cambridge/comments/s8m90w/the_great_escape_orchard_park/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Ye7bUnzS2bw-2U448P3SbgAAAEI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/09/eufy_roidme_reviews/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2019/04/10/woman_calls_cops_on_roomba_in_bathroom/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2018/07/20/iot_insecurity_robo_vacuum_cleaners/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2017/07/26/irobot_q2_fy2017_roomba_maps/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Ye7bUnzS2bw-2U448P3SbgAAAEI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Ye7bUnzS2bw-2U448P3SbgAAAEI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://t.co/vG8nXRF4JV
[11] https://t.co/vMgKZ6CVGc
[12] https://twitter.com/TravelodgeUK/status/1483769878884585474?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[13] https://t.co/cJqPhW2Fuh
[14] https://twitter.com/TravelodgeUK/status/1479481794730807300?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
-... complete with a text on a terminal reading "now I've got an axe. Ho-ho-ho." or somthing along these lines...
That's the one.
I think there was a short story arc about the bots.
For your reading pleasure:
https://www.theregister.com/2010/09/17/bofh_2010_episode_10/
https://www.theregister.com/2010/10/01/bofh_2010_episode_11/
https://www.theregister.com/2010/11/05/bofh_2010_episode_15/
https://www.theregister.com/2010/11/12/bofh_2010_episode_16/
https://www.theregister.com/2011/07/22/bofh_2011_episode_11/
The middle one is the one referenced, I think. Happy Bot Wars!
Awesome. That's my evening reading sorted. There was another one. I think it was programmed to go after the Boss, as the three of them were trapped in a lift at one point.
Lots of research happening in Cambridge. I hope Travelodge did a system integrity check to make sure it hadn't been fiddled with.
Looking at the satellite imagery, if it was found under a hedge, the little critter didn't make it off the premises on its own. If it was missing for so long, it must have been taken away and then returned and hidden there to be "found".
Who would go to such lengths if there isn't some nefarious plan unfolding. If you are staying at the Orchard Park Travelodge, you better sleep with one eye open...
"nature abhors a vacuum"
It sucks.
@b0llchit
like an Electrolux
Love, Death & Robots
The episode Zima Blue features the robot that upgraded itself to sentience, then decided it had been a bad idea and downgraded to where it started from.
Re: Love, Death & Robots
I was going to post about that episode. Have a beer ------------------>
Re: Love, Death & Robots
... and twas based on a short(ish) story by Alastair Reynolds, IIRC.
Re: decided [sentience] had been a bad idea and downgraded
And yet when other humans try this, for whatever reason, we somehow feel a need to criticize...
:-/
Re: decided [sentience] had been a bad idea and downgraded
I'm trying as hard as I can (see icon).
Re: decided [sentience] had been a bad idea and downgraded
Humans? Give 'em the vote? We should never have taught the buggers to speak...
silent running away eh...
Huey, Louie and Dewey. which one made the break for it then?
Found under a hedge after realising how shit your life is? Been there
French equivalent to Travelodge?
What was Formule 1, now styled HotelF1 as a [1]tentacle of Accor , is probably the closest. They have an unfortunate habit of choosing sites next to sewage works (which tend to make themselves felt more in France, than, say, Germany).
[1] https://hotelf1.accorhotels.com/home/index.en.shtml
Number 5 is alive....
"it has no natural predators,"
Are you sure of that?
Here's an update of a story I first re in these pages about 5 years ago.
We got four robotic vacuums for Xmas one year (SWMBO's relatives are in cahoots, it would seem). We called them all FRED, short for Fucking Ridiculous Electronic Device, and turned one loose on each floor to see what would happen. The cats ignored them, but the dawgs took an instant dislike to them. They all met their demise in under three days.
The first to go was FRED four (the one supposedly patrolling my attic office space). It was found beeping most piteously in a mud puddle under a rhododendron at the far end of the dawg's run. It never rolled again. FRED three disappeared. We never did find it[0]. FRED two kept mysteriously falling down the uncarpeted back-stairs, until the magic smoke came out. FRED one somehow wound up in the laundry sink while a load of wash was running. None of us actually observed the roboticide as it was occurring, so we don't know who the perp(s) is/are ... but my money is on the very elderly Standard Poodle, who had a rather guilty, yet satisfied look about him for a week or so afterwards.
Needless to say, we didn't repeat the experiment.
[0] Update: FRED three was found in the crawl-space under the feed barn about a year later. I have no idea how it got there, the only entrance large enough for it to physically fit is the locked trap door in the floor, and I have the only key.
Jetsons?
I'll have to watch them again, but I'm pretty sure this happened... or was it Futurama?
I'm reminded of a BOFH story involving the cleaning robots for some reason. And them being reprogrammed with an axe.