Should a Workplace Robot Resume When a Person Steps Away?

Google’s most useful robotics result this week may be the stop, not the knot tying. In one lab setup, Gemini Robotics 2 detected nearby people with 99% accuracy and transitioned to a safe pose 96% reliably, then resumed the task after the person left. But the same safety report says no tested frontier model achieved both near-zero missed hazards and near-zero false stops. It recommends keeping deterministic, low-level safety guardrails. The restart deserves its own rule. A person leaving the camera view does not prove the space is back to the state the robot remembers. Someone may have moved the bin, stepped behind a cart, or left the robot holding a tool. Before motion returns, I’d want a visible “stopped for person” state, the next physical move, and a short floor-level cancel window. For anything heavy, sharp, or blocking an exit, require a nearby person to release it. Should a workplace robot ever resume automatically after a person enters its space? If yes, what has to be visible in the room first?