Children Beating Up Robot Inspires New Escape Maneuver System
spectrum.ieee.org
spectrum.ieee.org
Likewise 'acting pitiful' - whining and crying. That's what bullies are looking for! Its the payoff.
No, the way to avoid bullying is to stand up for yourself. Pepper spray, loud noises, flashing lights would all be more effective.
It's also interesting that the children perceive the robot to be more human-like than machine-line, yet still they abuse it. Perhaps it is the simplicity of its behavior that makes is so easily abusable. If the robot were able to interact in a more complex way, perhaps like a child or an adult, asking questions or talking about other topics rather than having a single-minded goal of moving from A to B, the children would be slower to adopt abusive behavior.
To me it's entirely conceivable that when people were torturing for our government 10 years ago, their conscience was less engaged if their victims were already strapped to a table and looked pathetic before they waterboarded them.
I think a non-dangerous bright flash of light or clap of loud noise would might act like an interrupt to their behavior before any rational or humanity-based tactics could be employed effectively.