A robot chess player went outside the usual rules of the game recently when it made a move that shocked onlookers and left its seven-year-old opponent with a broken finger.
A video of the incident shows the robot’s arm apparently pinning one of the young player’s fingers to the chess board. Unable to free it, several adults rushed forward to try to assist the boy as the robotic arm seemingly refused to budge. Eventually the adults managed to free the boy’s finger, but a subsequent medical assessment revealed all was not well.
Lazarev promised to investigate the incident to properly understand how a robot could end up breaking a child’s finger during a chess game, adding: “The robot’s operators, apparently, will have to think about strengthening protection so that such a situation does not happen again.”