Andy Simmons

在科學技術(shù)不斷發(fā)展的今天，機器人在人們的生活中發(fā)揮著越來越重要的作用。但是， 機器人在工作時也會出現(xiàn)一些問題，讓人們困擾不已。

Robots really are taking over the world. They're writing novels——the first was ！ the Road， published in 2018. And they're making lunch： The California restaurant chain CaliBurger is trying out a robot that can make 2，000 burgers a day. How human can compete with robots一 especially given that androids don't complain， ask for raises， or get drunk at the office Christmas party？

Now let's take a look at another side of robotkind， one that's all too human. Here's a by- no-means-complete list of failed attempts by automatons to replace us flesh-and-bone types.

You call that service？

A few years back， the Henn na Hotel in Nagasaki， Japan， hired 243 robots to cover positions ranging from concierge （看門人）to bellhop （雜役使者）.Unfortunately， the check-in robots had trouble answering guests'questions and photocopying passports， while bellhop robots kept banging （猛擊）into walls and falling over. Not long after the experiment began， the hotel "fired# half of the robots. And they didn't get their tips， either.

Stop the presses！

In 2017， the Los Angeles Times published a story about a 6.8 earthquake that shook Santa Barbara， California. You would expect such a large quake to have gotten a lot of press coverage. And it did in 1925， when the earthquake happened. It turned out that the report was produced by a computer program called the Quakebot， which generates articles based on notices from the US Geological Survey. When a staffer at the USGS made an error while updating the historical data， the Quakebot jumped on it as if it were breaking news. Soon，

Southern Californians were frightened in their boots over a non-earthquake.

You look familiar

Facial recognition software has one pro?blem一it can"t always recognize faces. The American Civil Liberties Union proved that point when it used the Amazon Rekognition software to match mug shots of criminals to 28 members of Congress. But what about soccer ball recognition？ During a match last year， the

Scottish soccer team used Al-programmed video cameras designed to automatically follow the ball. Alas， the cameras constantly mistook the referee"s bald head for the soccer ball. One helpful viewer called the team to suggest supplying the referee with a toupee （假發(fā)）.

Whatever you do， don't anger Sophia

"Sophia# is a social humanoid robot de?veloped by Hanson Robotics. She has an att?ractive face， with a square jaw， high cheekbones， and impressive eyebrows. And she can hold a conversation. This is surely the robot of the future. When CEO David Hanson and

Sophia appeared on one of CNBC's programs， Hanson asked the robot the question humans have been asking themselves about robots for

years：??? "Sophia， do you want to destroy hu?mans？# Without hesitation， Sophia responded， smiling broadly， “OK， I will destroy humans. #

Humans， you've been warned.