This robot is just like a human; it sometimes makes mistakes 😢
That was the explanation the staff provided to my kid during the modern technology exhibition. Luckily, my 3.5-year-old did not accept that justification and quickly determined the required input configuration that “tricked” that robot (in other words, she was able to reproduce the software error).
I tried to explain this to the staff, but they insisted that “robots are like humans” and will occasionally make mistakes.
The overall exhibition was great as it allowed kids (and adults) to interact with various “modern technologies.” The idea was to present the possibilities to people from outside the IT/OT/IoT world, and it delivered that promise.
On the flip side, it created the false belief that “robots are like humans” and will occasionally make mistakes. That is simply not true. A human developer made a mistake during software development that caused the robot to malfunction in certain conditions. It is such a pity that exhibitors failed to educate staff and badly misinformed the visitors.
Every complex software can contain bugs - that is completely fine. What I do not agree with is claiming that we cannot do anything to make it better.
Are robots like humans, and do they occasionally make mistakes at random? What is your opinion?
