27 Robotic dogs on the loose in Tokyo

Who let the dogs out? - 27 robotic dogs created by tech giant Toshiba are on the loose in central Tokyo

It sounds like something out of sciene fiction, but after a Toshiba truck was involved in minor a car crash in Tokyo at 6pm local time today, the contents of the truck, 27 state of the art, high tech robotic dogs, were unleashed. The dogs, which are prototypes for a new breed of robotic pets that have been under development by Toshiba for over 10 years, and which are expected to be available on the market in 2020, have been described as "almost sentient". Equipped with proximity sensors, impressive artificial intelligence and even a voicebox, the robots are designed to behave as closely as possible to how a real dog would behave in any situation. Somehow the dogs, which were being transported in the truck from the factory to the Toshiba headquarters, were activated and were able to escape through the back of the truck in the aftermath of a crash into a telephone pole. The 27 dogs, acting very much like real dogs, began running in different directions and are now all over central Tokyo. The dogs are reportedly running at a speed of about 10 mph but have not yet collided with any people thanks to their anti-bump sensors. Two of the dogs have, as of now, been captured, but 25 are still loose on the streets of Tokyo, causing traffic jams, frightened children and a whole lot of chasing by regular people.Toshiba are urging citizens of Tokyo not to approach the dogs if they were to spot them, and to report any sightings of the dogs to a special hotline that has been set up. We were able to get in contact with Rob Park, an American working at the Toshiba headquarter and asked him to shed some light on what's happening. - We were expecting a these prototypes tonight to start working on them in the morning but now I think we won't get them back anytime soon. It's not amusing to think about hundreds of millions of Yens running around Tokyo, but I am sure that they will swiftly be collected by our people. I heard some people are trying to catch the robots and sell them on the blackmarket, but we will ensure that all 27 come back to the headquarters. The people of Tokyo are lucky that the dogs are designed to act like real dog and not run into people. I'm seeing people on social media snapping pictures of them now, and I must admit that the situation can be regarded as quite comical.

By the time we finished writing this article, we got a report saying that another 3 dogs have been captured - only 22 to go! To discuss this crazy story, tweet under #27RoboDogs