Rick Nelson

Bum Bot should be arrested for violating Asimov’s First Law of Robotics
April 24, 2008

On Monday I wrote about robots as companions—robots like Alan Rath’s “I Like to Watch” and Jason Van Anden’s Neil and Iona. Such robots obey Isaac Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics”:  "(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 orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; and (3) a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law."

In a Salon article posted yesterday, Farhad Manjoo describes a robot that violates the first law. Bum Bot, the creation of Rufus Terrill, a 57-year-old ex-Marine bar owner and engineer, is a “vagrant-fighting robot…a man-high structure of steel and plywood covered in black rubber gym mats.” Bum Bot, writes Manjoo, “looks like a special effect-shop reject, but it's also scary as all get-out. The Bum Bot, which is powered by four car batteries and trucks about on a three-wheel scooter, is outfitted with a spotlight to frighten people away, an infrared camera that beams back live video images, a loudspeaker through which Terrill can address alleged ne'er-do-wells, and a turret-mounted water cannon that can attack at a moment's notice.”

I guess this is just another inappropriate example of people trying to apply technological solutions to social problems—see related post on “teen-repelling Mosquito.”

Posted by Rick Nelson on April 24, 2008 | Comments (0)