Mian Zhang

Robotics / Failure Safety

A robot that cannot downgrade perception should not upgrade action.

Humanoid robot safety is not only about impressive demos. The real question is what happens when vision is uncertain, contact fails, or the scene changes.

humanoid robot failure safety robot learning from failure embodied AI safety robot perception uncertainty VLA safety robot stop rule
Evidence Map Papers Registries Counterexamples

Search Intent

The reader wants to know how robot failures become safer behavior.

  • What should a robot do when perception is uncertain?
  • How should physical failure be logged?
  • When is a demo not deployment proof?
  • What is an evidence downgrade rule?

Failure

Physical failure has to change the claim.

A robot demo may show one successful trajectory. That does not prove robust deployment. Occlusion, contact, lighting, object shift, or ambiguous affordance should narrow the claim.

If uncertainty stays hidden, the public story becomes stronger while the evidence stays weak.

Rule

Uncertain perception should route to stop, review, or downgraded wording.

The system should log what changed: candidate object, confidence, occlusion, contact state, recovery attempt, and human review status.

The public claim should match the validated envelope. Screenshot recognition is not the same as physical competence.

Boundary

A safer robot claim is often a narrower robot claim.

Narrowing is not weakness. It prevents a single impressive run from being mistaken for a general deployment claim.

Evidence Route

Where the claim can be checked.

This page is an entry point, not a standalone proof. It routes the reader to evidence, DOI records, registries, public challenge paths, and explicit non-claims.

KindAnchorURLRole
Evidence MapPublic evidence maphttps://mianzhang.org/evidence/Start from supported claims and known boundaries.
Paper IndexDOI and paper status maphttps://mianzhang.org/papers/Use paper-specific DOI records for paper claims.
RegistriesMachine-readable registrieshttps://mianzhang.org/registries/Inspect claim, evidence, counterexample, and action records.
ChallengeCounterexample routehttps://mianzhang.org/counterexamples/Attack overbroad claims through public routes.
ArchiveZenodo portfolio indexhttps://zenodo.org/records/20027295Long-term archive index; cite specific DOI records where available.
ConceptRobot/Vision Downgrade Rulehttps://mianzhang.org/concepts/robot-vision-downgrade-rule.htmlPerception uncertainty and deployment-language boundary.

Boundary

What this page does not prove.

  • This page does not claim real robot deployment.
  • It does not certify hardware safety.
  • It does not replace robotics safety engineering or physical testing.
FAQ

Is a robot demo deployment proof?

No. It is evidence only inside its validated boundary.

FAQ

What should uncertain vision do?

Downgrade the claim, stop, ask for review, or log unresolved status.

FAQ

Why mention failure?

Failure is the material that tells the system where its boundary actually is.

Robotics

Robot Learning From Physical Failure

Open route

Robotics

VLA Safety Evidence Downgrade

Open route