The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to ban a controversial policy, albeit temporarily, that allowed the police deploy robots to use lethal force.
What Happened: Officials in San Francisco voted against allowing the police to use remote-controlled robots to kill criminal suspects if they felt that doing nothing would put the public or the police at risk. Following complaints and protests from citizens and civil rights groups, the city's board of supervisors changed the regulation it had enacted the previous week.
The issue will go back to the committee for further discussion. A vote can be conducted again in future, the report stated, citing San Francisco Chronicle.
"I am calling on my colleagues to take heed of the powerful backlash and make sure this harmful policy is never approved—not today, not tomorrow, not ever," stated Dean Preston, one of the SF supervisors who originally voted against the policy, according to ARS Technica.
Why It's Important: Following the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' decision to allow the San Francisco Police Department to arm the bomb disposal robots with bombs, public protests saying "No Killer Robots" began in full swing.
A letter opposing the decision stated, "There is no basis to believe that robots toting explosives might be an exception to police overuse of deadly force. Using robots that are designed to disarm bombs to instead deliver them is a perfect example of this pattern of escalation and of the militarization of the police force that concerns so many across the city."
Read Next: Interact Remotely Through These Humanoid Robots' As If You're Physically Present
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