Warning: Autonomous System
2020-12-10This sketch has been sitting in a temporary repo for about 2.5 years now, it’s something I drew while experimenting with hand-editing SVG. 2020 seemed like the right year for it so I thought it should see light of day at long last
It’s a proposed warning label for autonomous robot systems: you know, the kind of unpredicatable robot thing which should be kept away from humans lest it maim someone. There’s plenty of warning symbols for normal machinery but nothing I could see to indicate that a machine which appears to be dormant could become active at any moment.
The design is based on the general idea of symmetric hazard symbols like the radiation warning and biohazard signs. It also takes inspiration from the gears/cogs/sprockets represented in machinery hazard signs.
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|---|---|---|
| Radiation Hazard | Biological Hazard | Mechanical Hazard |
It is symbolically a five spoked wheel or cog to represent machinery, and also a anthropomorphic robot in a Vitruvian Man-like pose to symbolize the autonomous nature of the device.
The 5 spoked wheel is a nod to the Discordians and the 13 teeth on the wheel are just a nice bonus. At the center is a skull-like keyed shaft.
(While the finer details might be a bit fussy for non-machine printing, in an emergency a hand drawn, five spoked wheel in a hazard triangle should suffice.)
OK, I guess I’d better go print it on a T-shirt :-)