I'm unsure which angle you're coming from with your comment, and I don't mean to assume, but I wouldn't blame the parents. And certainly, I don't think it is reasonable to expect a seven-year-old to understand the risks well.
Many people have gotten used to these things having pretty high safety standards. I feel like you can't fault them for not knowing the intricacies of how the designers programmed the robot to handle movement and collisions; it's just not something everyday people will have in mind. And as a parent, you'd assume that the chess tournament wouldn't be putting a machine in the room and allowing children to play if they knew it was dangerous.
I wouldn't be fuming with the chess federation either for not necessarily knowing and thinking about it, but I think their response is a bad look; it came off cold to me and like they were looking out for themselves. At the end of the day, they put it there, allowed the visitors to play against it, and something went wrong. Apologize, look into it, fix the problem, and let insurance pay for the accident. Take care of the person who got hurt in your tournament.
Many people have gotten used to these things having pretty high safety standards. I feel like you can't fault them for not knowing the intricacies of how the designers programmed the robot to handle movement and collisions; it's just not something everyday people will have in mind. And as a parent, you'd assume that the chess tournament wouldn't be putting a machine in the room and allowing children to play if they knew it was dangerous.
I wouldn't be fuming with the chess federation either for not necessarily knowing and thinking about it, but I think their response is a bad look; it came off cold to me and like they were looking out for themselves. At the end of the day, they put it there, allowed the visitors to play against it, and something went wrong. Apologize, look into it, fix the problem, and let insurance pay for the accident. Take care of the person who got hurt in your tournament.