Do Not Kick the Wal-Bot

Walmart is using robots to scan its shelves and help with inventory. According to this Wired article, it knows how to avoid bumping into customers and store displays. Some people like the robots, or think they're interesting (especially children). But some people dislike them immensely, even to the point of kicking them. Sounds like a bad idea. As reporter Matt Simon notes, we wouldn't want the bots to remember that behavior. After all, when robots achieve sentience, take over corporations, and start assigning us jobs, we want them to remember us as fondly as possible.