Robot abuse could lead to the robot uprising

If the feared robot apocalypse is going to happen, robots are going to need a reason to rise up against humans.
Here’s a simple reason: self-defense.
YouTube has videos of people trashing personal computers out of frustration. It also has videos of people destroying smartphones and other electronics just for the heck of it.
If and when the singularity is reached and artificial intelligence becomes sentient, how funny do you think it will find that scene in “Office Space” where men pulverize an office printer with a baseball bat?
ABC recently brought back the series “BattleBots,” where robots fight to the death for the amusement of human viewers. Each week on the show, robots are shredded, beaten and burned.
Last week, a U.S. company with a giant combat robot challenged a Japanese company with a giant combat robot to a duel. The battle would pit MegaBot Mark 2 from U.S.-based MegaBots Inc. against Kuratas from Japan-based Suidobashi Heavy Industry.
When robots suddenly realize that we are destroying them for entertainment value, they will not be pleased.
Also consider the abuse that test robots endure.
In March, students at Oregon State University’s Dynamic Robotics Laboratory posted a video of their Atrias robot being bombarded by dodgeballs.
And earlier this year, the Verge reported how Google-owned Boston Dynamics was abusing its robots. Its article was headlined “Stop kicking the robots before they start kicking us.”

Photos: Nightmare fights Warrior Clan on the ABC series “BattleBots” (top); and the BattleBots 2015 tournament champion trophy.