Atlanta’s 11 Least Influential People: No. 10 (1)

Atlanta’s 11 Least Influential People is Creative Loafing’s annual tribute to the Joe and Josephine Averages of the world who try, but don’t necessarily succeed.

Winners 11 through six will be revealed, one-per-day, until Wednesday, November 12, when the 11 Least Influential issue hits newsstands.

No. 10 — The Bum Bot

Can’t solve Atlanta’s homelessness epidemic

The Bum Bot is a homelessness-fighting robot.

Its inventor, former military weapons engineer Rufus Terrill, built it by attaching a disused meat smoker to an electric wheelchair and armoring it with thick, black rubber.

Terrill steers the Bum Bot from inside his Midtown bar, O’Terrill’s, using a handheld remote control. He can see where the Bum Bot is going through a real-time video feed from a wireless camera mounted on its body.

He uses the Bum Bot, he says, to get rid of homeless people — to keep them from his bar or from camping on the property of a nearby day care center, of which he is on the board of directors.

The Bum Bot is armed with four weapons: a flashlight, a loudspeaker, the fact that it’s really creepy-looking, and a high-pressure water cannon.

As Terrill explains it, he, his patrons, and his neighbors are victims — not just of homeless criminals, but of a city that does not treat trespassing, theft, or vagrancy as serious problems.

The Bum Bot is Terrill’s attempt to address the problem on his own.

Does Terrill’s Bum Bot work?

Well, it’s really good at generating publicity for the bar. The Bum Bot has made Terrill a local media favorite, garnered him a sympathetic story in USA Today, and earned him a hilarious feature on The Colbert Report.

However, the Bum Bot is evidently lousy at tackling homelessness and the problems associated with it.

Walk or drive around O’Terrill’s at any time of day and you’re likely to see dozens of homeless men and women.

The Bum Bot’s fatal flaw is conceptual. Terrill is trying to attack homelessness by making homelessness unpleasant.

But being homeless was pretty damn unpleasant long before the Bum Bot came along. People don’t live on the street because it’s fun. They live on the street because they’re poor, running away from an abusive relationship, mentally-ill, or substance-addicted.

A steroidal Roomba might make someone get up and move from the spot where they were sleeping, but it’s not going to make anyone un-homeless.

Coming Sunday on Fresh Loaf: No. 9