A food delivery robot spontaneously caught on fire at the University of California Berkeley on Friday afternoon. Students reacted by setting up a candlelight vigil for it.
Students at the University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley) lamented over the robot, known as KiwiBot, on Friday after it had caught on fire on campus, as first reported by The Daily Californian.
The Kiwibot, which UC Berkeley students have hailed as a “hero,” is a food delivery robot that uses Computer Vision and Deep Learning technology to “make intelligent decisions that ensure a fast, safe and cost-efficient delivery,” according to its website.
“One of the Kiwibots, the food delivery robot, caught on fire on campus,” tweeted one student.
“So a delivery robot caught fire on Berkeley’s campus and students set up a candlelight vigil for it,” said one Twitter user, who attached one photo of a student attempting to put out the flames around the robot, and another photo of the candlelight vigil.
“Something you don’t see every day: KiwiBot blows up on Sproul Plaza,” tweeted local independent news site, Berkeleyside, along with a photo of what appeared to be the robot after the flames had been extinguished.
Sasha Iatsenia, the head of product at the company, told The Daily Californian that something like this has never happened before, and that Kiwi is working with the University of California Police Department to investigate what caused the combustion.
Iatsenia added that the robot was not delivering a meal when it caught on fire.
The Kiwibot is reportedly one of more than 100 robots that make deliveries throughout the university’s campus, and the city of Berkeley.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo and on Instagram.