The requirements are deceptively simple, actually. The lights were red all along. It's only after the robot turns evil that it starts posing ominously in shadows ...
Red LEDs are energy-efficient, highly visible in low light, and most importantly, cheap in bulk. Engineering departments love red. It doesn’t just say “danger.” It says “budget-conscious.” It’s not malevolence. It’s manufacturing with a coupon!
Of course, on the other hand... red is also the universal color for something has gone terribly wrong. Your toaster shouldn’t glow like HAL 9000. Your blender doesn’t need to look like it’s arming for launch. And yet, here we are... one shade away from “self-destruct.”
Just wait and see, one day some smart aleck is going to make a utterly-harmless or even funny looking robot with blue LEDs. Just so no one will be suspicious before the "Destroy All Humans" programming kicks in.
The real tricky part is figuring out how to program in when the red leds are supposed to turn on. Some have suggested that the signal for the leds should also disable the robot, but that doesn't seem feasible.
Oh, man, don't get me started on that. The requirements are so vague, except when someone who knows nothing of programming sticks his horn in, and we have to code to his specs.
The requirements are deceptively simple, actually. The lights were red all along. It's only after the robot turns evil that it starts posing ominously in shadows ...
That's one technique, but it does require careful handling. After all, even evil robots don't spend all their time posing.
A PSA we all need.
"Has your bot gone evil? Know these warning signs..."
Obviously redundancy is important.
A good laugh to start the day.
😊
Red LEDs are energy-efficient, highly visible in low light, and most importantly, cheap in bulk. Engineering departments love red. It doesn’t just say “danger.” It says “budget-conscious.” It’s not malevolence. It’s manufacturing with a coupon!
Of course, on the other hand... red is also the universal color for something has gone terribly wrong. Your toaster shouldn’t glow like HAL 9000. Your blender doesn’t need to look like it’s arming for launch. And yet, here we are... one shade away from “self-destruct.”
Just wait and see, one day some smart aleck is going to make a utterly-harmless or even funny looking robot with blue LEDs. Just so no one will be suspicious before the "Destroy All Humans" programming kicks in.
Always the smart aleck.
The real tricky part is figuring out how to program in when the red leds are supposed to turn on. Some have suggested that the signal for the leds should also disable the robot, but that doesn't seem feasible.
Oh, man, don't get me started on that. The requirements are so vague, except when someone who knows nothing of programming sticks his horn in, and we have to code to his specs.
You mean like 01001101 01111001 00100000 01100010 01100001 01100100 00101100 00100000 01110100 01110101 01110010 01101110 00100000 01101111 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100101 01111001 01100101 01110011 00100001 ?
1