Google, Leave Atlas the Robot Alone

But why so much hatred? On Wednesday morning, many people made their disapproval known after seeing the laboratory Boston Dynamics’ latest video. Boston Dynamics is an affiliate of Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google that specializes in the production of robots.

These are often incredible robots that reinvent the concepts of robotics and movement. Atlas was the main character in Wednesday’s short demo video. Atlas is a humanoid robot; he walks in the snow, slips but avoids falling, collects cardboard boxes and then puts them on shelves. It looks like nothing special, but it is actually very impressive and shows the progress made in the robotics sector (i.e., very rapid progress, as we humans needed several hundred thousand years to develop from all fours to standing on two legs).

Then a human being appears in the video. Dressed in a white coat, we can tell he is a researcher. At the beginning, he facetiously tries to trap Atlas by moving around some boxes that the robot is supposed to collect, then he makes him trip with the help of a hockey stick. Atlas avoids the traps, and does not let himself fall when the human manages to make him lose his balance. A large stick and a dirty move, from below, is what is needed to knock the robot to the floor.

Atlas gets back up again, in a scene reminiscent of the film “Terminator.” This is where the awkwardness lies. Atlas, in spite of his human appearance, is still a machine.

Why is there this awkwardness? It does not affect us so much when we watch videos of robot vacuum cleaners being methodically destroyed. Perhaps it is exactly because Boston Dynamics’ productions make us think about “Terminator,” Skynet, and John and Sarah Connor. And we see the moment when machines will replace us and take over power.

As the web designer Jason Kottke notes on his blog, “No good will come of playing box keep-away with robots and treating them like, well, machines. It’s already started… Did you notice Atlas didn’t even look behind itself to see if it needed to hold the door for anyone? And you think manspreading on the subway is a problem… Wait until we have to deal with robotspreading by robots whose ancestors we shoved with hockey sticks.”* And that’s what is scary.

Please, Google, “don’t be evil,” leave your robots alone — and pay your taxes.

*Editor’s Note: Quote provided in full for accuracy.