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Atlanta Man Unleashes Robo-Cop on Neighborhood

by Terrence O'Brien on February 26, 2008 at 09:25 AM

Atlanta Man Unleases Robo-Vigilante on Neighborhood
Rufus Terrill, who owns a bar in downtown Atlanta called O'Terrill's, has grown weary of the drug dealers and vagrants he says frequent the neighborhood. Rather than put the police on speed dial or hire private security guards, Terrill has created his own private one robot security squad to keep the undesirable elements away.

The unnamed robot, affectionately referred to as either Robo-Cop or Bum-Bot by those who have seen it in action, is a hodge podge of off-the-shelf parts controlled by Terrill and a remote control. The four-foot tall, 300-pound body consists of an old smoker mounted atop an electric scooter. He's mounted a spot light, infrared camera, loud speaker, and water cannon inside the chassis, then wrapped the whole thing in rubber and painted it a menacing black.

Terrill sends the bot to the neighboring daycare center while he remains safely positioned up the block. Using a walkie-talkie, he instructs "suspects" to leave and informs them they are trespassing. If they refuse to leave, the bot then lets loose with the water cannon.

Terrill's creation is a hit with patrons at his bar and with the operator of the day care center, but not everyone is as enthusiastic about his mechanical vigilante. Police say they have not had any complaints about the bot yet, but they add that if Terrill is turning the water cannon on people unprovoked, it would constitute assault. Others accuse Terrill of simply targeting the homeless. A little further down the block is the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, which Terrill claims is responsible for much of the neighborhood's crime, but others, including the Task Force's director, think he is out to get the homeless and think turning a robot on a person is inhumane.

From Fark.com and Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Tags: breaking+news, crime, law, robot, top, vigilante

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