Robotics

The word robotics first appeared in Isaac Asimov’s science-fiction story Runaround (1942). Along with Asimov’s later robot stories, it set a new standard of plausibility about the likely difficulty of developing intelligent robots and the technical and social problems that might result. Runaround also contained Asimov’s famous Three Laws of Robotics:

• A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
• A robot must obey the 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.