Last week we told you about a robot stolen from its owner. The $5000 bot is a Propeller QuadRover. It weighs 90 lbs and was lifted from the SUV of Ph. D physics professor Erik Sanchez of Oregon’s Portland State University last Monday. Sanchez told authorities he was not interested in pressing charges, but he just wanted the perpetrators to return his robot, which was used as a teaching tool in his classes.
Now the robot has been found in nearby Commonwealth Lake. A resident reported what was believed to be a generator in the lake, but which was actually the QuadRover. It’s unknown how long the bot was in the water, but Sanchez believes it’s severely damaged. An unfortunate end to this story. We can at least rest assured that the criminals who did this will be subject to torture by a robot council, once uncovered by a team of robot detectives.

[Seattle Times]

Ph. D physics professor Erik Sanchez of Oregon’s Portland State University left his SUV unlocked Sunday night when this $5,000 Propeller QuadRover was stolen from the vehicle! The 90 pound robot, which was donated by Parallax Incorporated, was to be used as a teaching tool in one of Sanchez’s advanced physics classes.
“It has an an autonomous brain,” Sanchez said.”You can program it to be smart.” Oh no! Does that mean it knows it’s been kidnapped?! Sanchez isn’t interested in pressing charges, he just wants to see the little bot returned safe and sound. I’m actually very curious as to how this thing was carted off. Did the programming pilferer simply wheel it down the block? Or was the perpetrator strong enough to carry the QuadRover? The difficulty of executing such a heist on the fly seems great. I wonder if this was the zenith of a robot stealing plan that had been long in the works. Five thousand bones is a lot of mazuma. Let’s just hope this robot has a good home and is being used for good and not evil (though that’s never the case.) Check out a video of this robot below.
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