back to article ROBO-PLOD! 'Droid snatches scumbag's shotgun in standoff

A stealthy robot run by a Los Angeles SWAT team has successfully disarmed a murder suspect by sneaking up behind him and stealing his weapon. Ray B Bunge, 52, of Lancaster, California, was on the run from the police after charges of attempted murder, criminal threats, assault with a deadly weapon, robbery and felony vandalism …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Should have

    replaced the shotgun with a cucumber then put the video on YouTube, could pay for another whole robot.

    "Check out his expression at 2:17!"

    1. Adam 1

      Re: Should have

      Alternatively, something like

      https://www.amazon.com/Loftus-Power-Starter-Prank-Pistol/dp/B0006GJXW4

  2. frank ly

    Silent Running?

    Was it the sound of the helicopter that prevented him from hearing the robot sneaking up behind him?

    1. Captain Hogwash

      Re: Silent Running?

      Would that be a Huey helicopter?

    2. TRT Silver badge

      Re: Silent Running?

      The helicopter can be used to drop a robot into the danger zone. Of course, if they drop it accurately enough, the stand-off could be over in seconds.

  3. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    Ray B Bunge

    Spelling error in surname?

  4. ijustwantaneasylife

    Well I never...

    I've lived on this planet a long time and I've never heard of a 'Berm'.

    You learn something new every day, obviously.

    For anyone else that's never heard of it either...

    "Berm" (noun)

    a flat strip of land, raised bank, or terrace bordering a river or canal.

    a path or grass strip beside a road.

    an artificial ridge or embankment, such as one built as a defence against tanks.

    1. Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese Silver badge

      Re: Well I never...

      I had come across the word before. However, given the context of this article, by time I reached the end of the second paragraph I was reading it in an Inspector Clouseau accent

      "ze suspect 'as a berm"

    2. RJChurchill

      Re: Well I never...

      Perhaps it's a north american term, but the word berm is not really that uncommon. Of course I don't live in a big city and you won't find as many berms in a concrete jungle thats for sure!

      1. theModge

        Re: Perhaps it's a north american term

        I used to do IT for a UK based landscaping firm and learnt the term there - they were occasionally asked to build such things to block noise (possibly from roads, I forget).

        1. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge

          Re: Perhaps it's a north american term

          Berm also appears on racetracks

          Although sounds very Allo Allo in this context

          1. dvd

            Re: Perhaps it's a north american term

            It's common in the UK too - for example an earth work to contain spillages - eg fuel.

            You're just not moving in the right circles.

            1. Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese Silver badge

              Re: @dvd

              I can see how it could be used in this context, but seeing as we're talking about potentially obscure words I'd have to say that what you're describing sounds more like a bund to me.

              1. TRT Silver badge

                Re: @dvd

                Of course the word exists in the UK. It's what someone from Birmingham might order in a Lancashire chip shop.

            2. Bluto Nash
              Mushroom

              Re: Perhaps it's a north american term

              In certain type of manufacturing, berms are also used to direct any blast upward from something gone awry in certain processes, rather than let the shock wave travel horizontally and do additional damage to the expensive parts of the plant. There's a reason the term is "dirt cheap."

              And yes, we run those processes remotely, thank you very much. Icon for something a berm doesn't contain very well.

          2. JassMan
            Trollface

            Re: Perhaps it's a north american term @ Prst. V.Jeltz

            I think it was invented a little pre-murica. They were in use outside any medieval castle several hundred years before North America was colonised by anyone carrying a firearm. From Wikipedia:

            "In medieval military engineering, a berm (or berme) was a level space between a parapet or defensive wall and an adjacent steep-walled ditch or moat.[1] It was intended to reduce soil pressure on the walls of the excavated part to prevent its collapse. It also meant that debris dislodged from fortifications would not fall into (and fill) a ditch or moat."

            As in all things where we are 2 nations separated by a common language, we think of it as the space in front of the wall where muricans insist that it is the defensive wall itself.

  5. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge
    Terminator

    Dead or Alive your coming with me!

    1. DuncanL
      Headmaster

      I don't want to know what you're doing with his coming....

  6. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken
    Pint

    "Then again, robots aren't always so easy-going. In July, Dallas police used a similar robot carrying a bomb to blow up a suspect who was holding them off with firearms."

    It's not the robots, it's the guys at the controls. Seems like the LAPD's SWAT team have some that are quife sensible. I hope that someone buys them a couple of after hour brewskis.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Either that or the guy was white so just shooting him was out of the question.

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