This provocative look at industrial automation draws on three recent news stories in which robots were involved in fatal accidents. Dismissed as rare anomalies, such events raise serious ethical and legal questions. The range of things the machines can do is rapidly expanding in manufacturing, services, and agriculture. Some believe that this model of development is advantageous, whereas others hold that the expansion of automated technologies increases social and economic disparities. The prophetic words of Isaac Asimov and the opinions of workers, researchers, and philosophers all point to issues in need of answers.
