The laws of robotics are a group of principles, laws, or codes, that are designed as a framework to underpin the behaviour of autonomous robotic systems designed to have some degree of independence. A number of different organisations that make up the Association of Artificial Intelligence, the European Committee for Standardisation, and the United Nations Organisation Committee on Artificial Intelligent Systems, are responsible for creating these laws, and many other standards that govern robotic behaviour. The main aim of the laws of robotics is to ensure that robotic systems can carry out a variety of tasks, without being influenced by human intervention.
To illustrate, suppose you want to build a robotic system that can autonomously move around your home in order to clean or vacuum. If there were no autonomous robotic systems in place, you would have to design one from scratch, which would involve using software to allow the robot to be programmed to carry out a wide range of tasks without human intervention.
A number of different laws of robotics currently exist to protect against misuse of robotic systems. In most cases, they are designed to be used in combination with one another in order to protect against certain undesirable activities. In other words, if you want to make your robotic cleaning system do the sorts of things that people who aren’t trained professionals would do, you would need to ensure that the laws of robotics also applied to that particular robot. Otherwise, you could be put at risk for serious legal action.
The most common law of robotics law which applies to any autonomous robotic system is the law of control. This basically means that a robotic system must be able to act and react in accordance with any instructions or signals which are given to it.
A number of different kinds of autonomous robotic systems exist, including those which are designed to navigate safely around children, which can work safely within buildings and in hazardous environments, and even ones that can perform basic household chores. These types of robotic systems can also be used to help with a wide variety of other tasks, including medical research, monitoring pollution levels, and performing various other jobs such as search and rescue.
If a robot is programmed to carry out tasks, it will need to be able to communicate this information back to the controller or owner of the robot. There are two primary forms of communication which can be made possible: voice and data. The latter is what most people think of when they hear the term “law of robotics” and it actually involves transmitting information back and forth between the robot and its owner. Although it sounds a bit boring, voice communication can actually be quite reliable and effective.
Data transmission is a little more complicated, but it requires sending and receiving radio signals between the robot and its owner in order to relay information. This means the robot must be equipped with a communication network which is either wireless or wired, or both. Depending on the network, it can either send and receive data on its own or through a remote data feed which is received and interpreted by its owner.
Although these are only a few of the different kinds of robotic systems that exist, they are the fundamental principles which form the basis of all others. The laws of robotics in practice are not always written down, but can be found in many different places. However, the best sources for information about these codes and principles are online resources that have been created by organisations that deal with the laws of robotics.
