Visitors to O'Terrill's pub in Atlanta, Georgia are likely to be greeted by a worrying sight - a 300-pound, waist-high robot marked 'SECURITY' rolling through the streets after dark, hunting down loiterers.
Bar owner Rufus Terrill's invention, the Bum Bot – which has been patrolling the area around the pub since last September – features bright red lights, an even brighter spotlight, an infrared video camera and a water cannon in a spinning turret on top.
Terrill can bark orders through the robot's loudspeaker from the safety of his bar, allowing the robot to chase homeless people away from the Irish theme pub.
The electronic vigilante has enraged neighbourhood activists, who have threatened protests. Street people say it's intimidating. And homeless advocates question the intentions of its inventor, who uses the Bum Bot as a marketing tool and a political prop.
Terrill, a 57-year-old ex-Marine, asserts his motives are pure: He says more police now patrol the area at night, the park across the street feels safer and he's had no break-ins since the cube-shaped robot, which Terrill controls with a wireless remote, has roamed the area.
To Henrik Christensen, director of Georgia Tech's Robotics and Intelligent Machines Center, the Bum Bot exploits the kind of anxiety that underlies the Terminator movies.
'We have a Hollywood picture that they're going to run amok, kill people and do bad things. This Bum Bot plays on that stereotype,' Christensen says. 'For the rest of us who want to use technology to assist people in their daily lives, it's an obstacle.'
Terrill bought the bar four years ago. At first, he walked around with an assault rifle on his shoulder to scare away vagrants, but police told him to put away the gun. Then he used a spotlight. But the bar was still being vandalized, and guns were stuck in his face several times. His wife suggested he patrol a safer way - using a robot.
An environmental engineer by day, Terrill gathered the makings of his vigilante for three months. A three-wheel scooter gives the Bum Bot mobility. A home-alarm loudspeaker attached to a walkie-talkie gives it a voice. Its head is a former home meat-smoker. The red lights are from a 1997 Chevrolet, and it's powered by four car batteries.
Some nights, Terrill transmits the robot's video view to the bar's 60-inch TV so people indoors can watch.
The bar now welcomes patrons with a sign that says "Home of the Bum Bot," and Terrill has asked a regular to design a T-shirt with its image. He says he may use it for a campaign for Atlanta mayor he plans to announce this summer.
'He'll be my chief of staff. He'll be parked in front of my office,' says Terrill, who finished fifth out of five in Georgia's 2006 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor.
'It's a play for public attention for Rufus. He's certainly got a lot of attention - but not the kind we need for housing, living wages,' says Anita Beaty, director of Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless. 'This robot isn't casting attention to the deep, deep poverty in Atlanta.'
Christensen at Georgia Tech agrees. 'He's moving the problem elsewhere,' he says. 'And that works for him, but it's really not solving anything.'
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