Hackers expose frailty of robots

At 4ft-nothing, with orb-like eyes, SoftBank's humanoid robot, Pepper, is designed to look friendly. But imagine if Pepper -- a powerful machine crammed with cameras, sensors and motors -- hurtled towards you at top speed? Or stood in your home, secretly recording your life? In 2017, Lucas Apa and Cesar Cerrudo, security researchers with the consultancy IOActive, showed that the version 2.5.5 of Pepper could be hacked through its software because of vulnerabilities that were discovered when it was connected to a network. They demonstrated that the robot could be controlled remotely, its limbs manipulated and its cameras used to spy on users. Yet more than a year later, SoftBank has not patched the software, according to an analysis of its change logs by Mr Apa.