From Ben Haller, Ithaca, New York, US
A robot that used machine learning to teach itself to safely cross roads dodges between the oncoming traffic by “shuffling back and forth to keep itself safe” (16 December 2017, p 20).
This is remarkably like creating an artificially intelligent player of the classic arcade game Frogger, which is commendable. But can it tell the difference between the floating logs and alligators seen in the game? And can a robot that is weaving back and forth amid traffic really be described as exhibiting “safe” behaviour?
Couldn't the robot just find a pedestrian crossing and wait for the signal to turn green? Are the police going to have to start ticketing robots for jaywalking?
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