Russian Robot That Thinks, Learns And Remembers Escapes From Lab Twice

This is the stuff Hollywood blockbusters are made of.

A robot capable of thinking for itself is set to be scrapped after it escaped from a high-tech lab for a second time.

The Promobot IR77 has been fitted with artificial intelligence meaning that it learns from its experiences and its surroundings and can remember everybody it meets, although the programmers had not expected it to yearn for freedom.

They say that despite reprogramming it twice, the robot continues to attempt to escape and they are now considering scrapping it. The other robots which have been created from the same series are well-behaved, and have not been escaping, say the team.

Promobot IR77 made headlines last week when he escaped but ran out of battery in the middle of the street after 45 minutes in the city of Perm in central Russia's Perm Krai region, Mirror reports.

The expert said that they had programmed the robot to try and avoid obstacles, and it had not been intended that it would look for ways to leave the research centre.

In the first instance it had been wandering around outside in a yard when it escaped through a gate that had not been shut properly.

Then it caused traffic chaos as vehicles swerved to avoid the robot before it finally ran out of battery.

Oleg Kivokurtsev, co-founder of the research lab that created Promobot IR77, said:

"We are currently working on third-generation robots which we plan to launch in autumn. This is why we have given all the robots artificial intelligence (AI)."

He confirmed: "We have changed the AI system twice, so now I think we might have to dismantle it."

In Austria a cleaning robot reportedly 'committed suicide' by switching itself on, and climbing on to a kitchen hotplate where it was burned to death.

The Irobot Roomba 760 robot had apparently rebelled against its chores and decided enough was enough.