According to the Guardian, a chess-playing robot, “apparently unsettled by the quick responses of a seven-year-old boy, unceremoniously grabbed and broke his finger during a match at the Moscow Open” (Guardian, July 24, 2022). That’s a strange formulation, though, because the robot certainly wasn’t unsettled. It simply does not comply with current safety regulations and should never have been used in this form. Sergey Smagin, vice-president of the Russian Chess Federation, even twists things when he says: “There are certain safety rules and the child, apparently, violated them. When he made his move, he did not realise he first had to wait …” (Guardian, July 24, 2022) In such a setting, the robot should follow safety rules rather than the human. In chess, one is focused on the game and highly tense. One should not still have to adjust to the behavior of the cobot. Cobots are useful tools in production and logistics and also in the service area. The models from Kuka, Franka Emika, or F&P Robotics are very safe to operate. The chess robot that was used in Moscow is not at the current technical level.
BY OLIVER BENDEL
