In February, 2015, a South Korean woman was sleeping on the floor when her robot vacuum(吸尘器) ate her hair, forcing her to call for emergency help. It surely isn’t what Stephen Hawking warned us that intelligent devices “mean the end of the human race”. But it does highlight one of the unexpected dangers of inviting robots into our home.

There are many examples of intelligent technology going bad, but more often than not, they involve cheating rather than physical danger.

Meanwhile, increasing evidence suggests that we , especially children, tend to tell our deepest, darkest secrets to human robots. So how do we protect ourselves from giving-away code?

Once you’ve invited a robot into your home, you need to manage your expectations. Movies and marketing may have told us to expect deep interaction with robots friends but we’ve still got a long way to go before they are as socially aware as described. Given the gulf between expectation and reality, it’s important to avoid being tricked.

The message is clear: as robots became increasingly connected to the internet, and able to respond to natural language, you need to especially cautious about figuring out who or what you are talking about.

We also need to think about how information is being stored and shared when it comes to robots that can record our every move. Some recording devices may have been designed for entertainment but can easily be adapted for more dangerous purposes. Take Nixie, the wearable camera that can fly off your wrist at a moment’s notice and take shots around you in the air. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how such technology could be taken advantage of.

Most people protect their secrets in the presence of a recording device. But what happens once we get used to a robot around the house, answering every instruction and call? We may be at risk of letting our guard down, treating them as extended member of our family. If the technology around us is able to record and process speech, images and movement, or listen secretly to us, what will happen to that information? Where will it be stored? Who will have access? If our internet history can be a mirror, these details could be worth their gold weight to advertisement company. If we grow accustomed to having trustworthy robots getting into our daily lives, our words and deeds could easily become over-exposed.

So, what is the safest way to welcome robots into our homes, public spaces, and social lives? We should be cautiously optimistic that intelligent machines could become enriching companions, while acknowledging that we need to determine strict boundaries for robots.

We might think of expanding the reach of consumer protection agencies or creating new robot-centered policies. Advances in robots may call for a body responsible for the combination of robots with society. There should be someone to turn to should your robot commit a crime, steal your card… or try to eat your hair.