While some Twitter users theorized that the K5 committed roboticide, a simpler explanation was provided by Michael Bailey-Van Kuren, the C. Michael Armstrong professor of engineering and interactive media at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

“Like with any technology, you can have a fault condition and an error can occur,” he said on Tuesday.

Technology is advanced well enough to direct autonomous devices away from obstacles, he said, noting that even Roomba, the vacuuming robot, has sensors to avoid stairs. That the K5 did not detect the stairs was an anomaly, he said.

Knightscope said on its website that its models “guide themselves through even the most complex environments.”