A D V E R T I S E M E N T

In 1942 Isaac Asimov, a prolific science fiction writer, outlined the Three Laws of Robotics. Although written to entertain, his work becomes the "ideal" foundation of how today's scientists should design a robot. The laws are outlined as follows,

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Asimov's ideal robot is equipped with positronic brain, its primary purpose is for robots to detect and identify humans. Unfortunately, no scientific field are developing such type of fictional technological device.

The movie Bicentennial Man of Columbia Pictures faithfully adapts the work of Asimov. The picture below shows Andrew the android explaining the three robotics laws to his owners.


A scene from the movie Bicentennial Man. Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Honda, one of the worlds leading automobile manufacturer, created Asimo, the most advance humanoid robot. Asimo however is using microchip, a technology far behind from the ideal positronic brain of Andrew. Microchip should be advanced enough to identify human. Yes robots can detect infrared hot spot, but it cannot distinguish between human and hot steam iron. There are also robots who can pattern facial expressions but it cannot identify animals from human.

Microchip robots must be under the direct command of human in order to achieve the behavior of positronic robot. It can save or kill anyone but as a tool of a man and not because the robot do judgment by its own. As to the limitation of our present day robots, experts redefine the three Robotics Laws in accordance to our limited technology.

1. A human may not deploy a robot without the human-robot work system meeting the highest legal and professional standards of safety and ethics.
2. A robot must respond to humans as appropriate for their roles.
3. A robot must be endowed with sufficient situated autonomy to protect its own existence as long as such protection provides smooth transfer of control which does not conflict with the First and Second Laws.

Suggested Readings

• Three Laws of Robotics
• Science fiction’s robotics laws need reality check
• Three new Laws of Robotics for the early 21st Century

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