[asimuvPR]

Probably. Or it could simply have had malfunctioned (bugs in robots are worse) and strayed off. You can see in the video that the sidewalks are very low and there was a ramp near where the robot was. Its not hard to imagine that people stopped paying attention to it and it slipped out by mistake. Of course, saying that it "escaped" makes it seem more interesting. Imagine if a story was ran every time a machine malfunctioned. People are still very wary of robots in general. The media has done an excellent job making them seem dangerous.

[sp332]

They said a researcher forgot to close a gate.

[asimuvPR]

Yes, which makes the title more ridiculous. The same thing will happen to a roomba if you leave it running on an open space. I can see the headline now: "Evil vacuum cleaner robot creates havoc on city streets."