The “Case of the Killer Robot”, is an ethical computer story about a man who was killed by a malfunctioned robot. There are many people in this story who the blame could be placed and many people in this story who really had no idea what was going on, and are not at fault for what happened. The main characters are Randy Samuels (Programmer), Cindy Yardley (Software Tester), the U1 Design Team, Sam Reynolds (CX30 Project Manager), Ray Johnson (Robotics Division Chief), Cybernetics, Bart Matthews (Robot Operator), and Michael Waterson (President and CEO of Techtronics). All of these characters somehow fall in line somewhere in the story. They all were somewhat involved in it although some were more involved than others. The person who is most responsible for the death of Bart Matthews is Randy Samuels, who was the programmer. In the article, he is the one who is being taken to court for manslaughter.
We even find out later in the story that he was the one who messed up the code and caused the robot to go haywire. Yes, Matthews should have double-checked the robot before operating, however, if Randy Samuels would have done his job correctly and double checked, Bart Matthews would still be alive. They even asked a Professor who is fluent in C formula what happened. He explained Samuels misinterpreted the y—dots as y-bars and did the same thing for the x‘s and 2’s. He goes on to say, “He is guilty as hell if you ask me.” If someone who is familiar with the language caught you screwing up three times in one formula for the robot, then there is obviously something wrong. This fully proves the points that Randy Samuels is at fault for the death of Bart Matthews. The least responsible person for the death of Bart Matthews is Michael Waterson, who is the President and CEO of Techtronics.
I understand one may assume that he is the CEO so it is automatically his fault, however, in this situation; this is simply not the case.Michael Waterson is supposed to be keeping up with ideas and concepts and know, for the most part, what is going on in his company. That being said, how was Michael Waterson supposed to know that Randy Samuels had the wrong formula? It is nearly impossible for a CEO to look over every single formula that is processed in his company. It is merely his job to manage operations and make sure everything is going smoothly. Yes, he did give a pressured time of January 1, however, if the workers truly believed it could not have been done in this amount of time, they would have told Waterson. How is be supposed to know they are pressured if no one tells him? Ryan Samuels should have stated that he needed extra time to double-check all of the formulas, but instead, he rushed through it and is now being accused of manslaughter for the death of Bart Matthews. These facts eliminate Michael Waterson as a suspect for the death of Bart Matthews.
In conclusion, Ryan Samuels is no doubt at fault for the murder of Barth Matthews. He messed up on the formula and was proven guilty by a professor who is very fluent in the language. He should have reported to Michael Waterson that he needed more time to complete the project. He should have told Waterson that with such limited time there is a greater risk of there being a malfunction with the equipment. Michael Waterson was the CEO, but how was he supposed to know about every single formula, which was processed by the company? Yes, he should not have given such a short timeline to finish the product, but someone should have let him know that this was a very pressured timeline. Every character was involved in the Robot project; however, some are much more at fault than others.
