System Crashes Will Forestall the Robot Apocalypse

The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. Do you find yourself worried by the implications of Humans, Channel 4's new drama about the exploits of near-human intelligent robots? Have you ever fretted over the apocalyptic warnings of Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk about the threat of superintelligent artificial intelligence? Have your children ever lay wide-eyed thinking aboutrobot drone armies, such as those in Marvel's film Avengers: Age of Ultron? If you find this creepy or have answered "yes" to any of these questions, you should immediately watch footage from the recent DARPA Robotics Challenge.