Chess Robot grabs the Finger of a Seven-Year-Old Opponent and Breaks It.
Next on the list of reasons to fear the robot uprising is last week’s incident in which a Russian-based chess-playing robotic arm grabbed and fractured a child’s finger, The Guardian reports.
This happened during a game at the Moscow Open. It reportedly happened because the boy, aged seven, made a move too fast and confused the robot.
Sergey Lazarev (translated by Google) stated that the robot had broken the child’s finger. The robot was rented from us and has been displayed in many places for an extended period with specialists. The operators missed it. The robot grabbed the child and made a move. The robot is our only option.”
Sergey Smagin (vice-president Russian Chess Federation) echoed this sentiment, stating that it was “a sporadic incident” and the first such case he knows of. The child violated safety rules. He didn’t realize that he had to wait before he could make his move,” Smagin stated (via The Guardian).
According to reports, Christopher is a young boy who is one of Moscow’s top 30 chess players under nine. He seems to have recovered very well and continued playing in the tournament.
The child participated in the tournament the next day. A cast was assembled, and volunteers recorded the moves. Moskomsport has called the parents to ask for assistance. We will contact the prosecutor’s offices, communicate with them, find out the facts, and help the family in any way possible,” Lazarev stated (translated from Google). “The robot operators will need to consider strengthening protection so that this does not happen again,” Lazarev said (translated by Google).
