ISAAC ASIMOV
I, ROBOT
THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS
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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 CONFLICT WITH
THE FIRST LAW

A ROBOT MUST PROTECT ITS OWN EXISTENCE AS LONG
AS SUCH PROTECTION DOES NOT CONFLICT WITH THE
FIRST OR THE SECOND LAW
THE TIME BEFORE THE LAWS
In science fiction people used
to follow the Frankenstein
pattern – robots eventually
destroy their creator(s).
LAW ONE
A ROBOT MAY NOT INJURE A
HUMAN BEING, OR, THROUGH
INACTION, ALLOW A HUMAN
BEING TO COME TO HARM
LAW TWO
A ROBOT MUST OBEY ORDERS
GIVEN IT BY HUMAN BEINGS
EXCEPT WHERE SUCH
ORDERS CONFLICT WITH THE
FIRST LAW
LAW THREE
A ROBOT MUST PROTECT ITS
OWN EXISTENCE AS LONG AS
SUCH PROTECTION DOES NOT
CONFLICT WITH THE FIRST OR
THE SECOND LAW
RUNAROUND
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Gregory Powell and Michael Donovan work on
photo-cell banks on Mercury and robot Speedy
helps them.
Speedy gathers selenium from the selenium pool.
One day he doesn’t come back on time and they
find him running around the pool in circles.
Powell refers to the three fundamental laws of
robotics in order to come to a logical explanation of
Speedy’s behavior and that is the first time Asimov
mentions all three of the rules!
RULE THREE IN SPEEDY’S CASE
In Speedy’s case Rule Three has been
strengthened, so his allergy to danger is
very high.
THE CLASH OF RULE TWO AND
RULE THREE
Powell explains his unusual behavior by the
means of deduction and comes to a
conclusion that Rule Three drives him back
and Rule Two forward, so he stays on the
locus of all points of potential equilibrium and
runs in circles.
THE INCREASE OF THE RULES
To make him stop they try to
modify (increase) any of the
three rules.
THE POWER OF THE FIRST RULE
Powell makes him stop by accidentally
increasing Rule One potential by exposing
himself to a dangerous situation.
Rule One is above all others!
EVIDENCE
Dr Calvin argues: The 3 laws
are nothing more but the
essential guiding principles of
many world’s ethical systems.
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE
1ST LAW
Every good human being is
supposed to love others as
himself, protect his fellow man,
risk his life to save another.
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE
2ND LAW
A human being with a social
conscience and a sense of
responsibility respects
authority, listens to his doctor,
boss, government, etc. follows
rules and obeys laws
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE
3RD LAW
Every human being is
supposed to have the instinct of
self-preservation i.e. humans
avoid harming themselves
THE ANALOGUES OF THE LAWS IN
THE DESIGN OF TOOLS


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A tool must be safe to use. Knives have
handles, swords have hilts, grenades have
hooks, etc.
A tool must perform its function efficiently
unless this would harm the user
A tool must remain intact during its use
unless its destruction is required for its use or
for safety
2004 MOVIE I, ROBOT
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The movie I,Robot starts with the three laws of
Robotics, the perfect circle of protection as they
call it later.
Will Smith’s character makes a comment: Laws are
made to be broken!
He argues with Dr Calvin about the laws and the
posibility of robot committing a crime.
Dr Calvin makes a funny observation when she says
that a robot cannot commit a murder no more
than a man can walk on water…
Will Smith’s character responds: Well, you know,
there was this one guy long time ago…
MARK W. TILDEN’S LAWS OF
ROBOTICS
Mark Tilden is Canada’s most
notorious and internationally
known robot scientist. He has
created his own Three Laws of
Robotics as a response to
Isaac Asimov’s:
TILDEN’S FIRST LAW
A robot must protect its
existence at all costs
TILDEN’S SECOND LAW
A robot must obtain and
maintain access to its own
power source
TILDEN’S THIRD LAW
A robot must continually
search for better power
sources
THE THREE ‘COMMANDMENTS’
These ideas are often summarized as:
1. Protect thy ass
2. Feed thy ass
3. Get thy ass to better real
estate
WORKS CITED
Asimov, Isaac. I, Robot. London:HarperCollinsPublishers 1967.
Proyas, Alex. I, Robot. 20th Century Fox in association with Mediastream IV; Davis
Entertainment Company/Laurence Mark/Overbrook Films production, 2004.
http://www.robosapiens.org/Robosapiens.html
http://zhurnal.net/ww/zw?ThreeLawsOfRoboticsRevised
http://www.robotics.utexas.edu/rrg/learn_more/history/
http://blog.outer.com/archive/2006-11-16-n44.html
http://www.irobotmovie.com
http://www.infinitematrix.net/stories/shorts/i-robot.com