by Budge Burgess

Created on: April 03, 2009

The history of robots is not merely an example of life imitating art, it is a tale of technology imitating life. Science fiction brought us the robot, introduced us to the morality of robotics and the question of mechanical consciousness, and has consistently explored the potential applications, and potential dangers, of robots.

It's a two-way process. There can be no one working in the field of robotics or Artificial Intelligence (AI) who has not been influenced by science fiction - the literature, more particularly the cinema and television portrayals of robots and computers, create design implications and explore philosophical questions which shape the scientific imagination.

Science fiction writers are, meanwhile, immersed in science - the laws of science and their potential development are themes for the fiction writer, and become the dynamic inspiration for the exploration of crucial unanswered questions and possibilities for science.

The very word, 'robot', was introduced to the popular imagination by the Czech writer, Karel Capek, in a 1918 short story, then in his play, "Rossum's Universal Robots". 'Robot', in Czech, means 'drudgery'; Capek's work explores what happens when robots, introduced to free mankind from boring, repetitive work, achieve a level of consciousness which demands acknowledgement that they exhibit life, that they have a 'soul'.

Capek introduced a theme which has influenced the science fiction exploration of robotics - the term 'robotics' itself derives from another science fiction source, short stories by Isaac Asimov. Asimov would lay the foundations for science fiction's vision of robots, and he would take fiction into the real world - what Asimov explores is the nature and consequences of technological design.

Asimov portrayed robots as servants of mankind, operating within his 'Three Laws of Robotics' which prevent them from harming people. He saw robots as social beings, integrated with humans. The nature of their social integration, and the integration of their consciousness create potential for friction.

In the face of the inconsistencies and logical failings of his Three Laws, Asimov added a fourth 'Zeroth Law' (the earlier Laws override later ones, so zero precedes the First Law). "A robot may not harm a human being, unless he finds a way to prove that in the final analysis, the harm done would benefit humanity in general." The Zeroth Law permits a robot to harm individual humans according to an abstract concept of humanity -

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