When in Doubt, Ask a Human
■ A big detour around two scraps of paper
Two crumpled balls of paper lay in an evening hallway. Hakobukun stopped in front of them: "Obstacle detected." Then it crept right up to the wall, inch by inch, to steer far around them. Terashima, waiting behind it, said, "It's paper," picked them up, and tossed them in the bin. "Faster to just pick it up."
■ Too much caution breeds delay and distrust
An NBC News report on hospital delivery robots described a robot that crept inches from a wall to steer around two scraps of paper, as an example of being too cautious. Avoiding unknown objects is basic safety. But if the robot gives everything a wide berth, it blocks the hallway each time, and the people around it end up working around the robot.
■ Conclusion: Stop in front of the unknown, and ask someone nearby
Makihara adjusted the settings: the stopping distance and the detour width, plus a new habit of stopping and telling a nearby person when it meets something it cannot identify. "It may be paper. Please check." Terashima's answer: "Just say so, and I'll pick it up."
Sometimes a quick question beats a robot going it alone.
