--- 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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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"}}]}] ```