Headlines rang out across the internet…that a robot killed someone in Germany. Beneath the sensationalist surface, there was a tragic truth: an industrial robot at a Volkswagen plant in Germany had indeed killed a 22-year-old worker who was setting it up. Coverage notwithstanding, this didn’t seem like the start of a machine-led apocalypse–I wanted a second opinion before heading to my backyard bunker. Ryan Calo is a law professor at the University of Washington, and he’s published academic works on our coming robot future, and the interaction between robots and cyberlaw.
Here are some of the questions…paired with his responses:
Popular Science: Yesterday Twitter was all abuzz about an industrial robot killing someone. You said at the time “this is relatively common.” What did you mean by that?
Ryan Calo: In the United States alone, about one person per year is killed by an industrial robot. The Department of Labor keeps a log of such events with titles like “Employee Is Killed When Crushed By Robot” (2006) or “Employee Was Killed By Industrial Robots” (2004).
You’ve written before about the potential for unique errors from autonomous machines. In future “robot kills man” stories, what characteristics should we look out for that make something go from “industrial accident” to “error with autonomy”?
Right. Industrial robots tend to do the same thing again and again, like grabbing and moving, and cannot generally tell what it is they are working with. That’s why factories establish “danger” or “kill” zones that people have to stay out of while the robot is operating…
Initial reports attribute the death to human error. At what point do you think having a human “in the loop” for an autonomous system constitutes a liability, instead of a safety feature?
In industrial robotics, that ship has long sailed. You couldn’t have a person in the loop and maintain anything like today’s productivity. Rather, you have to try to make sure — through protocols, warnings, etc. — that people stay out of the robot’s way…
RTFA for more of the same sensible discussion guaranteed never to make it into your local newspaper.
BTW, Professor Calo says he wouldn’t guarantee that Atherton’s questions weren’t being answered by a robot. 🙂
Eideard 
“How not to build the Terminator” – two disturbing days at the ‘world cup’ for robots. What really happens at the US Defence Agency’s annual robotics showdown, and what are Uber, Amazon and Elon Musk doing in the crowd?” http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/14/robots-darpa-robotic-challenge-impact-humans-google-amazon
“…On the more specific worry of robot safety, in practice the addition of robots has improved worker safety. A Financial Times article states robot-related fatalities are rare in western production plants as heavy robots are kept behind safety cages to prevent accidental contact with humans. Because this incident was a new install, the contractor was standing inside the safety cage when the accident occurred. A second employee was outside the cage and was unharmed. Indeed, fatality rates in manufacturing are below the average for the economy as a whole, and have been falling as automation has increased in both Europe and the US.” http://agmetalminer.com/2015/07/03/this-isnt-the-terminator-despite-german-death-most-swear-by-manufacturing-robots/
“Robot charms Queen on Germany visit” http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33263949 Re: Nao, the fully programmable robot who saluted the Sovereign, it’s been used to experiment with machine ethics and the problem of addressing moral dilemmas. http://www.nature.com/news/machine-ethics-the-robot-s-dilemma-1.17881 See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nao_%28robot%29 and http://robohub.org/nao-next-gen-now-available-for-the-consumer-market/
“Giant robots set to fight after U.S. company issues video challenge to Japanese rival” http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/giant-robots-set-to-fight-after-u-s-company-issues-video-challenge-to-japanese-rival-1.2456864
“Nearly Unbreakable Soft Robot Ignites Explosions to Jump : It’s the first ever to be 3D-printed with a blend of soft and hard materials, which could change the way robots are made.” http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/robots/a16384/unbreakable-bouncing-soft-robot/ includes video and link to article published today in the journal “Science”.
“An Iraqi Shi’ite Militia Now Has Ground Combat Robots” (March 2015) https://medium.com/war-is-boring/an-iraqi-shi-ite-militia-now-has-ground-combat-robots-68ed69121d21 See also link to 2009 article “The Inside Story of the SWORDS Armed Robot “Pullout” in Iraq: Update”
“Artificially Intelligent Robot Tells Creator It Will Keep Humans “In a People Zoo” http://theantimedia.org/artificially-intelligent-robot-tells-creator-it-will-keep-humans-in-a-people-zoo/ Includes link to Hanson Robotics and their Robot Gallery
Wyoming engineering firm gets $1.9M to develop the next generation of land mine-detecting robots http://www.fairfieldcitizenonline.com/news/article/Engineering-firm-gets-1-9M-for-land-6535014.php Square One Systems Design will partner with another Jackson Hole company, GH20 Machining, and Northeastern University to build demonstration models. The finished prototypes will be field tested in Arizona.
“Working safely is not only about processes, but context – understanding the work environment and circumstances, and being able to predict what other people will do next. A new system empowers robots with this level of context awareness, so they can work side-by-side with humans on assembly lines more efficiently and without unnecessary interruptions.
Instead of being able to only judge distance between itself and its human co-workers, the human-robot collaboration system can identify each worker it works with, as well as the person’s skeleton model, which is an abstract of body volume, says Hongyi Liu, a researcher at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Using this information, the context-aware robot system can recognize the worker’s pose and even predict the next pose. These abilities provide the robot with a context to be aware of while interacting.
Liu says that the system operates with artificial intelligence that requires less computational power and smaller datasets than traditional machine learning methods. It relies instead on a form of machine learning called transfer learning – which reuses knowledge developed through training before being adapted into an operational model.” https://www.kth.se/en/aktuellt/nyheter/robots-can-be-more-aware-of-human-co-workers-with-system-that-provides-context-1.1063563
“Collision-free human-robot collaboration based on context awareness” (Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, Feb 2021 issue) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0736584520302088?via%3Dihub
“Don’t Worry, This Chainsaw-Equipped Robot Arm Is, Uh, Perfectly Safe. Yeah.” https://gizmodo.com/dont-worry-this-chainsaw-equipped-robot-arm-is-uh-pe-1846621016
“Congressional Panel: Please, Let Us Build Killer Robots” https://futurism.com/the-byte/congressional-panel-build-killer-robots
“A simple artificial nervous system is able to mimic the way humans respond to light and learn to perform basic tasks. The principle could be used to create more useful robots and prostheses.” https://www.newscientist.com/article/2274084-artificial-nervous-system-senses-light-and-learns-to-catch-like-humans/
Researchers at three universities in South Korea have developed an artificial system capable of simulating a conscious response to external stimuli. It consists of a photodiode – which converts light into an electrical signal, a transistor acting as a mechanical synapse, an artificial neuron circuit, which acts as the system’s brain, and a robotic hand. https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/15/eabe3996
Chess robot grabs and breaks finger of seven-year-old opponent : Moscow incident occurred because child ‘violated’ safety rules by taking turn too quickly, says official https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jul/24/chess-robot-grabs-and-breaks-finger-of-seven-year-old-opponent-moscow