The killing of a technician by an industrial robot at a Volkswagen plant in Germany sparked a social media storm this week and raised fears about human safety in the coming era of robotics.
本周，民眾汽車(Volkswagen)德國工場一台產業機械人致使一位技師歸天的事宜，在交際媒體上掀起了一場風暴。這件事還讓很多人擔憂，在行將到來的機械人時期中，人類本身的平安會遭到威逼。
But experts on artificial intelligence and automation said the incident near Kassel should be understood as an extremely rare industrial accident, rather than a warning about future threats. The accident, in which the robot crushed the man against a metal plate, occurred during installation and involved a fast-moving first-generation robot designed to operate inside a cage, well away from human workers.
但人工智能和主動化專家表現，卡塞爾市(Kassel)鄰近產生的這發難件，應被懂得為一路極其罕有的產業變亂，而不是關於人類將來會面對哪些威逼的一次告誡。這發難故是在技師裝置機械人的過程當中產生的，機械人把技師擠到了一塊金屬板上。涉事的是一台快速挪動的第一代機械人，從計劃上說，這類機械人是在籠子裏事情的，闊別人類員工。
“With present technology we cannot ‘blame’ the robot,” said Blay Whitby, artificial intelligence expert at the University of Sussex. “Robots are not yet at a level where their decision-making allows us to treat them as blameworthy.
薩塞克斯大學(University of Sussex)人工智能專家布萊•惠特比(Blay Whitby)表現：“就現有的技巧而言，咱們不克不及‘將義務記在’機械人頭上。機械人還沒到成長到那種水平，咱們不該以為它們能為其所做的決議計劃承當義務。”
“This unfortunate accident is technically and morally comparable to a machine operator being crushed because he didn’t use the safety guard,” he added. “In this case it’s more complex and therefore more forgivable because ‘the safety guard’ [at Volkswagen] was provided by computer software and he was in the process of setting it up.”
他彌補說：“從技巧和品德角度說，這起不幸的變亂相稱於一位機器操縱員因未采用平安防護而被擠死了。詳細到這個例子，情形要更龐雜一些，是以也更值得諒解，由於(民眾的)‘平安防護’是由電腦軟件供給的，而他其時正在設置裝備擺設這一軟件。”
The next robotic generation — known variously as “workplace assistant robots”, “collaborative robots” or just “cobots” — are designed to operate uncaged alongside people. They incorporate sensors and other safety features to limit the force they can exert and prevent them running amok.
下一代機械人被稱為“事情場合助理機械人”、“協作機械人”或簡稱“Cobot”(collaborative robot的縮寫——譯者註)。從計劃上說，這類機械人是不在籠子裏而是在人們身旁事情的。這類機械人具有傳感器及其他安防辦法，可以或許限定它們的力量並防備它們橫沖直撞。
“Unfortunately people have exaggerated expectations and exaggerated fears about robots,” said Professor Alan Winfield of the Bristol Robotic Laboratory in southwest England. “They have been oversensitised by sci-fi movies and stories in the media.”
英格蘭西南部布裏斯托機械人試驗室(Bristol Robotic Laboratory)的艾倫•溫菲爾德(Alan Winfield)傳授表現：“很遺憾，人們對機械人的盼望和恐怖都過了頭。他們被科幻片子和媒體報導弄得過於敏感。”
Professor Sandor Veres, head of Sheffield University’s Autonomous Systems and Robotics Research Group, pointed out that there have been very few fatal accidents with caged industrial robots since the manufacturers began installing them in the 1970s.
謝菲爾德大學(Sheffield University)自立體系和機械人研討小組(Autonomous Systems and Robotics Research Group)主管尚多爾•韋賴什(Sandor Veres)傳授指出，自上世紀70年月制作商開端裝置在籠中事情的機械人以來，這類致人滅亡的變亂極為罕有。
Since the first recorded robot killing, in a US Ford factory in 1979, such incidents have occurred at a rate of less than one a year — making up a minuscule fraction of all deaths in industrial accidents.
第一路記載在案的機械人致人滅亡事宜，產生在1979年的福特(Ford)美國工場。自那以來，這種事宜每一年產生不到一路，在全部致人滅亡的產業變亂中只占極小的比例。
Indeed robotic automation has probably cut the overall death rate in factories, because more people would have been killed through a range of other industrial accidents doing the work replaced by robots.
究竟上，機械人主動化極可能下降了工場中的團體滅亡率，緣故原由是如果由人力來做機械人所做的事情，本會有更多的人在一系列產業變亂中歸天。
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