if the US had a nationwide fleet of robots that patrolled the streets to pick up litter and occasionally danced to entertain people, how many do you think would get punched every year? do you personally know and love someone who could potentially be a rob

We tried that in the suburbs of suburbs. I saw it once before it died. Big brother has a long way to go, but they sure as shit are trying.

We have a fleet of occasionally dancing garbage pickers here. I think the PC term is 'homeless'. We have deposits on bottles, so they roam the city picking them up.
They will also dance for cash, or due to too much drugs, or because not enough drugs.

They do sometimes get punched, but mostly by other organic garbage-bots.

It would depend on the appearance of the robot. There was a thing where a robot managed to hitchhike quite a long way without being harmed:

hitchBOT was a Canadian "hitchhiking robot" created by David Harris Smith of McMaster University and Frauke Zeller of Ryerson University. It gained international attention for successfully hitchhiking across Canada and in Europe, but in 2015 an attempt to hitchhike across the United States ended shortly after it began when the robot was destroyed by vandals in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/08/03/hitchhiking-robot-destroyed-philadelphia-ending-cross-country-trek/31051589/

I would imagine the union people who pick up the streets now would like to get in a punch or two.

Okay, I know many of you live in areas that don't have that service, but I do and I like it. So there.

Would love to see what you post when non-sober/smoker.

As for me and my house, we will punch the robots!