A discussion on the incident of computer software failure which caused the death of a worker

Introduction

There are a number of incidents that make the use of technology questionable. The navigation systems failing and directing through the wrong ways, nuclear material detectors found with problems, criminals getting an early release because of software glitches, and citizens being called multiple times by the FBI through their online system are all some of the main examples of the major computer systems being failed and made disastrous attempts to hurt and kill human beings. These are some of the highly noticed issues, but in the real world, there are many other issues that are creating problems for human beings and regular social life. Computer programs are highly complicated, and in real implementation, it is not possible that they would act as perfectly as required without any error. The causes of the flaws discussed are outnumbered, but solutions are in progress. The considered computer system failure caused the death of a worker in a manufacturing corporation due to the automated activity of a robot. The main aim of the paper is to discuss one of the major incidents of computer software failure, which caused the death of a worker.

Discussion

Summary

The under-discussion failure of the computer system that caused the death of a worker was the failure of security systems and the inability of robots to detect humans around him. The article chosen is available on TechRepublic, which was published at the start of 2017. The robot was on its way to repair some manufacturing machines. Wanda Holbrook was working over there and was not expected to be present at the repair work location assigned to the robot. The documents which were provided by the concerned department explained that the safety systems failed to work efficiently, which was the cause of the incident. The robot was allowed to pass the safety gates as Wanda Holbrook was thought to be not in the specific chamber. It is also explained in the article that humans and robots are collectively working in manufacturing companies for a long period of time, and death could be a tragedy that would be required to resolve so that there would be no such incident in the future to be handled (Forrest).

The husband of Wanda Holbrook has sued the robotics manufacturing corporation for negligence and improper implementation of the system. Since all the system was automated and the mishap cases are very rare so, the court was unable to conclude the case in anyone’s favor so, a providence was made afterwards for Wanda’s husband. Some very good associations that are responsible for measuring the standards of accuracy and safety in robotics implementation have also considered this issue, and in very short, they also explained that the standards of safety should be improved all over the world. This would help in the growth of this field in a safe mode, and no frequent disastrous incidents would happen. European Union also took notice, and The New York Times has explained that in the past 30 years, there were 33 deaths that were only caused by robotics.

Causes and responses

There were lots of multimillion-dollar computer systems that failed all over the world and had the worst economic, social, and financial impact on the economy. Since these firms and corporations are completely dependent on computer systems, it is completely impossible for them to move a single step without properly working on their internal software. There were a lot of concerns raised because of the worker being killed by a robot, as well as outnumbered incidents in the past, which were extremely cruel and inhuman. In the past, workers lost their body parts because of the machine’s mistakes, excluding human error at that moment. Making life easier was the goal of the scientists, but this incident, as well as many other minor and major issues, resulted in the company being found under consideration by the legal offices for the solution to the problems.

All over the world, after this incident, it was found that there was an ambiguity regarding whether the robotics field is safe for implementation and the automation of the machines. This ambiguity was supposed to be a drawback for the number of international corporations that were working at that moment and had invested great amounts in this field as the profit was certain. In the past, a number of different glitches were found, but they were resolved with the help of improvements. However, no loss of life was observed due to machine fault. In this case, the artificial intelligence factor of failure (one in ten thousand cases) was observed. This death of workers due to the robot had a negative influence on the overall industry and resulted in an outnumbered noticed and unnoticed back-offs.

Personal analysis

My own perception of the use of robots is positive, and I would like to say that the overall industry could never be blamed for small incidents and disturbances. Robots should be used to automate different functions that humans currently perform. This practice would be highly beneficial, but because of the factors that are causing damage, like the robot becoming a cause of death and injuries, it’s better to take some safety precautions before implementing the systems.

With respect to the death of the worker, the perspective developed by this article is quite good but does not satisfy the population in many different ways. The discussion concluded with a perspective defined that humans and robots have been working for decades, and in this long time period, only 33 deaths were only because of the machine’s fault. As soon as the development and advancement of the technology are seen, the safety concerns will also increase, and corporations will have to perform some additional safety measures that will help minimize the risk level of the workers and the humans around the automated machines.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, it can be explained that the paper discusses the overall disastrous incidents that happened only because of the major computer system failures. A news article was selected that summarized and discussed its causes and effects on the overall robotics industry after the German company’s manufacturing wing’s robot killed a worker. The overall conclusion of the paper is that many disasters are happening all over the world. Some are because of climatic changes, and some because of human activities. The field of artificial intelligence and robotics (Computer systems) has given an uncountable benefit to the human species and has given ease in a number of ways. Due to a few mishaps and problems, the industry could not be blamed. It is possible that a machine could have killed the worker, but as we know, these things are programmed at extreme levels, which may cause a perfect activity turned to a disaster. Human life is worth more than anything else in the world, and the loss is huge. The industry has updated its safety measures, which would now help in saving human beings from any kind of other problems caused by the machines or by themselves as well.

Works Cited

Forrest, Conner. “Robot Kills Worker On Assembly Line, Raising Concerns About Human-Robot Collaboration.” TechRepublic, 2017, https://www.techrepublic.com/article/robot-kills-worker-on-assembly-line-raising-concerns-about-human-robot-collaboration/. Accessed 24 Mar 2018.