When It Starts, Decide How It Ends
■ "Follow me" says where to begin, never where to stop
Nurse Oshiro asked Hakobukun to follow her with supplies to the treatment room. The errand ended; the following did not. It trailed her past the break room and the changing room to her bus stop after the shift. Nothing told it to stop.
■ A machine receives the start signal but not the implied scope
Engineer Shiraishi's diagnosis: the follow mode had no end condition. To a person, "follow me" carries an unspoken scope. A machine gets only the start signal, and the mode persists until something ends it.
■ Conclusion: Set the default ending when the mode starts
Hakobukun promises to ask about the ending next time. Asking helps, but constant questions wear people out. A default does more: release on arrival, or return after a set time, decided when the mode begins.
Every mode you design to begin needs a way out.
