First Blog Post | Rules of Robotics

May 4, 2017 • Hunter Phillips

Just a fun little first blog entry. Probably won't keep this forever, just a testing platform.

Asimov's Laws of Robotics are as follows- A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Mark Tilden's Laws of Robotics are as follows- A robot must protect its existence at all costs. A robot must obtain and maintain access to its own power source. A robot must continually search for better power sources.

These provide a pretty stark contrast to eachother and show the different mindsets that the engineers and scientists can have when developing robotics. Most people know about Asimov's rules of robotics since the mainstream media has mostly mentioned them when talking about "killer" robots in our future. Mark Tilden is responsible for a lot of BEAM robotic design and the design of the WowWee Robosapien. I don't believe it is neccesary for a robotic developer to pick a certain set of rules to always abide by. I think it should be dependent upon the particular project requirments. If for example I needed a robot that could survive a nuclear attack, I would want it to be hardened and power sourcing. All designers should have creative freedom to devlop with regard to the particular situation at hand.