A 7-year-old boy participating in a chess tournament had his finger broken by his robotic opponent.
The incident took place earlier this month in Moscow, Sergey Lazarev, president of the Moscow Chess Federation, told Russian state media outlet Tass on Thursday in a statement translated from Russian.
"The robot broke the child's finger — this, of course, is bad," Lazarev said. "The robot was rented by us, it has been exhibited in many places, for a long time, with specialists. Apparently, the operators overlooked it."
The unnamed boy was partly at fault, Lazarev said, noting that the child did not give the robot enough time to respond to his move, so when he reached for one of the pieces, the robot grabbed him. His finger was placed in a plaster cast and he continued participating in the event.
"It happens — a coincidence. It is necessary, apparently, to warn the children additionally," federation Vice President Sergey Smagin told Russia outlet RIA Novosti, according to The Washington Post. "It is extremely strange that this happened, but it happened, it happens."
Video of the incident has gone viral. It shows the boy making his move then, after a short pause, the robot grabs his finger and pushes it down onto the chess board. Several adults then rush to help remove him from the robot’s grip.
The robot has been in use for approximately 15 years. According to Smagin, this is the first time anything like this has happened. Officials have suggested that robot operators "think about strengthening protection so that this situation does not happen again," according to Tass.
"It will be necessary to analyze why this happened,” Smagin added, according to the Post. "The robot has a very talented inventor. It may be necessary to install an additional protection system."
Lazarev noted that the child's parents now want to contact the prosecutor's office and said his organization would try to assist the family.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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