BBQ-smoker-turned-’Robocop’ chases off drug dealers

It’s midnight on the streets of Atlanta, and bar owner Rufus Terrill patrols his neighborhood with a rolling crime fighter of his own creation. Meet “Bum-bot,” as Terrill describes it; others in his neighborhood call it simply, “Robocop.”

This former BBQ smoker is armed with a water gun to chase off bums and drug dealers in downtown Atlanta. It’s a barbecue smoker mounted on a three-wheeled scooter, and armed with an infrared camera, spotlight, loudspeaker and aluminum water cannon that shoots a stream of icy water about 20 feet. Operated by remote control, the robot spotlights trespassers on property down the street from his bar, O’Terrill’s. Using a walkie-talkie, Terrill belts out through the robot’s loudspeaker, “That’s private property. You guys need to get out of here.”

Robotic vigilante

Terrill, a 57-year-old ex-Marine, asserts his motives are pure: He says more police now patrol the area at night, the park across the street feels safer and he’s had no break-ins since the cube-shaped robot has roamed the area. To Henrik Christensen, director of Georgia Tech’s Robotics and Intelligent Machines Center, the Bum Bot exploits the kind of anxiety that underlies the Terminator movies.

“We have a Hollywood picture that they’re going to run amok, kill people and do bad things. This Bum Bot plays on that stereotype,” Christensen says. “For the rest of us who want to use technology to assist people in their daily lives, it’s an obstacle.”

The robot’s shell is made of steel and plywood, covered in rubber gym mats painted black and nicked by rocks, bricks and other objects people Terrill was rousting have thrown at it.