I-robot was at the premier of movies when it was released in the year 2004. It bewildered, many a fan, including myself of how the future technology would look like plus the existence of robots, running almost equal or parallel lives with human beings. Perhaps, one century into the future, a possibility of self-driven cars and more flexible robots is a reality. Taking into mind those memoirs, I became quite interested and fascinated about the three laws written by Prof. Alfred Lenning in the movie Irobot in which Will Smith, a detective tries to unearth the meaning of robots and their existence as a threat or benefit to humanity . I wanted to find out how it relates to robotics and physics.
I-robot
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 the orders given 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 Laws.
The Three Laws of Robotics were invented by Isaac Asimov, an author of the science fiction book Irobot in 1942. He spoke about the robots and their social obligation to the society. Whether these statements are mere fiction, I believe that robots with motions and senses are almost a reality. This century has seen the creation of principles governing the behavior of robots especially in the last decade.
Asimov included a fourth zeroth law
Which says: "A robot may not harm humanity, or, by or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm. "
This is the law in which Will Smith was in conflict about its validity when applied to robots in which he proved that robots can be manipulated to harm humans. The growth of the robots.
Robots are, however, thought to be machines which can evolve with time and able to reason as human beings and make their own decisions as a result of the many instructions given to them by the thousands of lines of codes. In my thinking, this can be true because those many instructions will enable them make rational/right decisions just as we have learnt in artificial decisions. Humans are themselves creating objects with reasoning capabilities which at one time will choose their actions stored in their databases. This forms also the basis of artificial intelligence. As quoted by Alfred Lessing in Irobot the movie:
Dr. Alfred Lanning (on Police Recording) : "Ever since the first computers, there have always been ghosts in the machine. Random segments of code that have grouped together to form unexpected
protocols. Unanticipated, these free radicals engender questions of free will, creativity, and even the nature of what we might call the soul. Why is it that when some robots are left in darkness, they will seek out the light? Why is it that when robots are stored in an empty
space, they will group together, rather than stand alone? How do we explain this behavior? Random segments of code? Or is it something more? When does a perceptual schematic become consciousness? When does a difference engine become the search for truth? When does a personality simulation become the bitter mote... of a soul?"
Modern robots
The basic principles of designing robots as devised in the year 2011 by both the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council of Great Britain are:
1. Robots should not be designed solely or primarily to kill or harm humans.
2. Humans, not robots, are responsible agents. Robots are tools designed to achieve human goals.
3. Robots should be designed in ways that assure their safety and security.
4. Robots are artifacts; they should not be designed to exploit vulnerable users by evoking an emotional response or dependency. It should always be possible to tell a robot from a human.
5. It should always be possible to find out who is legally responsible for a robot.
Other I robot featured inventions.
In this era of obsolete technology, demystified by the I-robot film which features hi-tech parking scenes, in which a wall parks your car in a closet like manner using a gigantic magnet thing is quite amusing !
But hey!! That was 2004!12 years ago or in short a decade ago. But such designs have been given a glimmer of hope such as new models of BMW i8 spider with, an a similar design and both Bugatti and Lamborghini(check the wheels,rims and body). These may just signal a revolution of the authenticity of such a movie from fiction to real life applicable technology. Driverless technology is already a reality with governments thinking of implementing the technology.