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Tianjin robot incident raises alarm over public safety and robotics

businesskorea.co.kr

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Re: Tianjin robot incident raises alarm over public safety and robotics

#31
post #12

Why does this article read like the robot actually got angry at a spectator. It did not, it does not have that capacity. This was definitely a glaring safety issue and the company should review all its failure modes that show up in public but an ”emotional” response this was not.

We antropomorphize animals all the time, it won't be any different with robots.

When one wants to be picky, we can't be certain about other people's emotions either. A psychopath may not feel any anger when hitting you, or he might be feeling something very different from what a normal person would label "anger".

Re: Tianjin robot incident raises alarm over public safety and robotics

#32

Video of the incident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JiOAqNpxlE

It is ridiculous to attribute intent to the motion, but I understand why people do — it really does give the impression of an aggressive, upset human. That’s unfortunate.

[deleted]

Re: Tianjin robot incident raises alarm over public safety and robotics

#33

The video is pretty unsettling, kind of showing how strong robots can be compared with humans. (We already knew this, but it’s good to remember.) Reminds me a bit of the chess robot that broke a child’s finger: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jul/24/chess-robot-gr... What annoyed me at the time was them describing the child as having broken some “rule” about waiting for the robot or something. We should reject…

In an industrial setting, these robots would be placed behind interlocked barriers and you wouldn't be able to approach them unless they were de-energized. Collaborative robotics (where humans work in close proximity to unguarded robots) is becoming more common, but those robots are weak / not built with the power to carry their 50kg selves around, and they have other industry-accepted safeguards in place, like sensors to halt their motion if they crash into something.

Re: Tianjin robot incident raises alarm over public safety and robotics

#34
This was one of my major concerns when Elon announced Tesla Optimus. There's a real need for government regulation on the bot specs. I blogged about this a while ago.

Something like:

1. They shouldn’t be able to overpower a young adult. They should be weak. 2. They should be short. 3. They should have very limited battery power and should require human intervention to charge them. 4. They should have limited memory.

Re: Tianjin robot incident raises alarm over public safety and robotics

#35

Video of the incident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JiOAqNpxlE

It is ridiculous to attribute intent to the motion, but I understand why people do — it really does give the impression of an aggressive, upset human. That’s unfortunate.

Don't anthropomorphize robots. They hate that.

Re: Tianjin robot incident raises alarm over public safety and robotics

#36

We need some sort of special police unit to liquidate renegade robots. Those police officers need a catchy name.

These heroic officers will have to deal with malefactors that want to rock and roll all night and party every day. This is why they will need an unlimited supply of waterfalls and sandwiches.

Re: Tianjin robot incident raises alarm over public safety and robotics

#37
post #8

Reminds me of that time in Russia at the chess tournament, where they repurposed some industrial robot to play chess and it crushed a kid’s hand. Also reminds me of when Uber got kicked out of California to test self driving cars, so they moved to Nevada and promptly killed a woman. I guess it’s not surprising that safety is taking a back seat in robotics development everywhere in the world. It’s a mad race for profi…

For self-driving cars, safety is probably not taking a back seat, otherwise there wouldn't be much profit in them. We just have an unrealistic expectation that they can and must be 100 per cent harmless, which we would never extend to human drivers.

The vast majority of previous transport tech, including horses and mules, was way more gory and dangerous than self-driving cars are.

This includes quite recent developments. How many people died on a Segway?

Re: Tianjin robot incident raises alarm over public safety and robotics

#38
Tangentially, this is the sort of thing that generally bothers me most about AI. Well, second most thing. The first is it being abused by humans to do terrible things. The second is it being built and maintained by humans, where a thing can easily malfunction in ways the people building and maintaining them can’t comprehend, predict, or prevent, especially when it’s built by organizations with a “move fast and break things” mentality and a willingness to cut corners for profit. The torrents of half-broken tech we are already drowning in don’t exactly inspire confidence.

Re: Tianjin robot incident raises alarm over public safety and robotics

#39

Video of the incident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JiOAqNpxlE

It is ridiculous to attribute intent to the motion, but I understand why people do — it really does give the impression of an aggressive, upset human. That’s unfortunate.

Many people will older brothers will recall the time when the brother had no intention of actually hurting them. They were merely swinging their hands, moving closer.. and closer.
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