Just like the old Robot Patent (by Emperor Joseph II) this is of course all about rent-seeking.

As we’ve noted in The Moby Dick Support Device, some egregiously stupid patent-officers started accepting patents based on the un-reasoning that a computer running a program makes it a different computer, just as a bookshelf which is used to store copies of Moby Dick is an entirely different thing than an ordinary bookshelf.

Now comes the second chapter, enter the robot. Yes, they’re not doing much right now, but watch the flurry of all-new bogus patents rolling in as soon as they will get more useful. Everyone and their lawyers will start patenting everyday actions, coupled with the phrase “with a robot”.

saulgoode writes at Techdirt:

If the bobble heads at the Patent Office continue on the path they are currently following then we can certainly expect a rush of patents on all kinds of human activity with the caveat of it being done “with a robot” — e.g., dig a hole with a robot, change a tire with a robot, build a swing set with a robot — just as “with a computer” seems to justify patents being issued on things such as getting feedback from a buyer or scrolling through a document.

Ah, Arkham Asylum Patent Offices, home of the criminally insane. How could one ever, with this concise list of non-patentable matters: EPC, Art. 52, come to such a ridiculous interpretation? (Same in the USA, see The Moby Dick Support Device).