Man jailed for stealing robot from hospital
A 29-year-old man who stole a robot from a local hospital was sentenced to three and a half years in jail and fined 40,000 yuan (US$5,800) by Jing'an District People's Court on Tuesday.
With local hospitals getting "smarter," many have robots to provide basic services like registration of patients. The robot involved in the case was worth nearly 85,000 yuan.
The thief, Zhang Yadong, told police officers where the robot was hidden, which prevented him from getting a much heavier sentence.
Zhang stole the robot from the lobby of Shanghai Hospital of Chinese Traditional Medicine on Zhijiang Road M., Jing'an District, in March and was arrested in April.
He took officers to a building materials market in Xuhui District where he had hidden the robot. Zhang said he committed the theft on impulse.
Zhang has been detained and jailed three times, but considering he returned the robot in one piece so that the hospital avoided greater losses, the court decided against the maximum penalty.