Robotics paired with AI are still in their early states, and early technology usually means a lot of accidents. In one such case, a chess robot snapped a young child’s finger at a recent tournament.
Why did a chess robot break a kid’s finger?
According to Russian media, a local chess tournament saw the injury of a seven year old boy via robot. In a surprising turn, the victim was so good at chess that his robot assailant could do nothing but attack.
During the tournament, the chess robot is able to detect and pick up chess pieces on the board and move them using AI. However, due to the sheer speed of this seven year old’s chess skills, the robot went in for the attack.
In a viral video of the match, the chess robot grabbed the boy’s finger tightly for numerous seconds. Afterwards, with a newly broken digit, multiple people come to save the boy from the vicious robot.
Via The Guardian, vice-president of the Russian Chess Federation Sergey Smagi blamed the boy for the mistake. He said:
“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. This is an extremely rare case, the first I can recall.”
Other quotes from attendees were just as blunt. Federation president Surgey Lazarev said: “The robot broke the child’s finger. This is of course bad.” Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin said the situation was “some kind of software error or something”.
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The champ returns
Despite getting beaten up by a machine, the Russian chess boy is already back to playing chess. It’s long been said that the best part about chess is that you can lose a finger and still play. Well, this proves that.
With a fractured finger, the little Russian boy returned to face the chess robot once again. Lazarev explained that “The child played the very next day, finished the tournament, and volunteers helped to record the moves.” What a champ.
Of course, many are still worried about the chess robot and its wanton destruction. However, it has been noted that the robot has performed at a number of tournaments before, and has never maimed a kid. One maimed kid isn’t much to worry about, apparently.