--- title: Security Robot Drowns in Fountain to Internet's Amusement description: Twitter tributes have flooded in for a Knightscope security robot that plunged wheel-over-nosecone into a fountain — and couldn't get up. canonical: https://time.com/4862263/security-robot-fountain-knightscope-k5/ author: Joseph Hincks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-18T08:22:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:45:28.097Z og:title: Security Robot Drowns in Fountain to Internet's Amusement og:description: It had only been on the job a few days before it met its watery demise og:url: https://time.com/4862263/security-robot-fountain-knightscope-k5/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd249567c5494b41/6988d611ab6d775c326aeff3/gettyimages-688223544.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3200 og:image:height: 1800 og:image:alt: Knightscope K5 Security Robot At Prudential Center og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Security Robot Drowns in Fountain to Internet's Amusement twitter:description: It had only been on the job a few days before it met its watery demise twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd249567c5494b41/6988d611ab6d775c326aeff3/gettyimages-688223544.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Crime-Fighting Security Robot Drowned in Mere Inches of Water, Much to the Internet's Amusement > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=4d38cfdc-2047-470d-95a5-9b910d721042&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Joseph Hincks](https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Jul 18, 2017 8:22 AM UTC  People check out the Knightscope K5 security robot as it roams the Prudential Center in Boston on May 22, 2017. People check out the Knightscope K5 security robot as it roams the Prudential Center in Boston on May 22, 2017. Jessica Rinaldi—The Boston Globe/Getty Images by [Joseph Hincks](https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Jul 18, 2017 8:22 AM UTC Twitter tributes have flooded in for a state of the art security robot that plunged wheel-over-nosecone into a shallow fountain near Washington D.C. — and couldn’t get back up. The roving robot — a four-foot tall oblong affair developed by a silicon valley startup called Knightscope — was on its usual crime-fighting rounds when it clattered down a set of steps and into the water feature outside Georgetown’s Washington Harbour office and retail complex, the _Washington Post_ [reports](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/07/17/a-security-robot-fell-into-a-water-fountain-at-a-d-c-office-building-and-the-internet-went-wild/?utm%5Fterm=.0c897cc4ab38). Images of its helpless, partially submerged form prompted a torrent of Twitter jibes. “We were promised flying cars, instead we got suicidal robots,” wrote one Twitter user. > [](https://twitter.com/bilalfarooqui/status/887025375754166272) Others posted pictures of (human) maintenance workers lifting the robot from the pool. > [](https://twitter.com/SparkleOps/status/887038957262786560) > [](https://twitter.com/cmahar3/status/887046362176540672) Knightscope, which said it was investigating the incident, described the mishap an “an isolated event” and promised to deliver a new robot within the week, according to the _Post_. An office worker at the Georgetown complex said this one had only been on the job a few days before it met its watery demise. \[[_Washington Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/07/17/a-security-robot-fell-into-a-water-fountain-at-a-d-c-office-building-and-the-internet-went-wild/?utm%5Fterm=.0c897cc4ab38)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4862263/security-robot-fountain-knightscope-k5/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4862263/security-robot-fountain-knightscope-k5/"},"headline":"This Crime-Fighting Security Robot Drowned in Mere Inches of Water, Much to the Internet's Amusement","datePublished":"2017-07-18T08:22:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:45:28.097Z","description":"It had only been on the job a few days before it met its watery demise","url":"https://time.com/4862263/security-robot-fountain-knightscope-k5/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Technology","robots","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd249567c5494b41/6988d611ab6d775c326aeff3/gettyimages-688223544.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joseph Hincks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd249567c5494b41/6988d611ab6d775c326aeff3/gettyimages-688223544.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Knightscope K5 Security Robot At Prudential Center","caption":"Knightscope K5 Security Robot At Prudential Center","creditText":"Jessica Rinaldi—The Boston Globe/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4862263/security-robot-fountain-knightscope-k5/","name":"This Crime-Fighting Security Robot Drowned in Mere Inches of Water, Much to the Internet's Amusement"}}]}] ```