It seems like everyone these days is working on household robots that will be able to assist the elderly or people in need, but you never hear too much about any safety tests being conducted. It’s a fundamental step you feel to have these walking-talking machines tested before giving them the keys to your house, and that’s just what the researchers from the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics at the German aerospace agency did.

The results were not very reassuring, to say the least. The scientists equipped a robot arm with different tools and programmed it to strike objects, like silicone lumps or limbs from a dead pig, in order to simulate damage on a human body. The “weapons” were common, yet dangerous tools, like kitchen knives, screwdrivers and scissors - you know, things you’d need any helper to learn how to use around the house. The first series of tests were conducted without any safety devices, and the robot arm, which weighted 14kg (30 pounds), not only made a number of mistakes, it even dealt some lethal blows.

It serves to show the dangers of working alongside these not-so-gentle assistants, and that very serious accidents can happen quite easily. Although the level of danger depends on each specific prototype, researchers are convinced all robots need a safety system installed which would improve precision and tell the robot when to stop. Such a system was also tested out, which uses torque sensors to detect when the robot is coming close to striking the wrong object, and the rate of accidents was greatly reduced.

Having said all that, perhaps a bit of common sense would also help. Standing next to anyone wielding a knife is rarely a good idea, let alone a robot. But you never can be too careful.

If you ever wanted to watch a robot stabbing (or at least trying to) a human, watch the below video.



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