I think it’s because we’re on the cusp of robots becoming our supreme overlords, but I love nothing better than to see a robot almost performing a task correctly, before smashing everything in a fit of accidental, misunderstood code rage.
It happened to me (or to my robot, depending on your point of view) once with Teasmate. It was the first time I’d tested his arm’s ability to lift a cup of water (water is heavy! It’s a real test!). Things were going fine – six degrees of movement – until the arm stopped responding.
After a few seconds of nothing, Teasmate suddenly continued the stacked actions: all at once and at 10x the normal speed.
As this was an initial test to see the range of movement under load, this was before I had programmed any limitations into the robot’s range of movements. In front of my mum and two aunts (obviously lured in by the appeal of a domestic robot), Teasmate lifted it’s arm as high as possible, bent at the elbow and poured 250ml over its motors, circuit board and power supply. It was very humerus.
I learnt a great deal about where I should limit the arm movements.