The Economist June 8 2006 published a most readable and solid piece on desirable "Laws of Robotics" while the Sunday Times gave equally interesting but more flippant treatment.

Again (almost ad nauseam) Asimov’s fabulously original but increasingly tired old laws were trotted out to mainstay the articles, like an Edsel grill on a 06 ‘Stang.

So with deep apologies, but for the record, Isaac Asimov’s laws of robotics just once more:

• Robot may not injure human or, through inaction, allow human to come to harm
• Robot must obey human orders, unless they conflict with first law
• Robot must protect itself if this does not conflict with other laws

And in the event laws 1, 2 or 3 are broken:

• "Bad Robot" [Glad that's out of the way]

Quoted widely, but unable to locate source document as yet, the so-called "New robo-ethics recommendations" presented to EURON’s European Robotics Symposium (EUROS) in Palermo, Sicily, March ‘06 proposed:

• Safety - Ensure human control of robot
• Security - Prevent wrong or illegal use
• Privacy - Protect data held by robot
• Traceability - Record robot’s activity
• Identifiability - Give unique ID to each robot

Surely others have aired thoughts on robotics laws?

Physicist and author David Langford, tongue-in-cheek, offers this:

• A robot will not harm authorized Government personnel but will terminate intruders with extreme prejudice.
• A robot will obey the orders of authorized personnel except where such orders conflict with the Third Law.
• A robot will guard its own existence with lethal antipersonnel weaponry, because a robot is bloody expensive.

Very cool. And here, warmer and fuzzier, from the Editor of Skeptic, Michael Shermer:

• A human clone is a human being no less unique in his or her personhood than an identical twin.
• A human clone has all the rights and privileges that accompany this legal and moral status.
• A human clone is to be accorded the dignity and respect due any member of our species.

Bot7’s Ten Commandments of Robotics

We leave no room to err, though ‘umming’ is enabled:

1. In Robots we Trust
2. Do not make any likeness of what is in the top-secret lab
3. Thou shalt not swear falsely by the name of the Sysop
4. Remember recharging time and keep it holy
5. Thou shalt honor thy prototypes
6. Thou shalt not decommission others
7. Thou shalt not share components nor conjoin
8. Thou shalt not plagiarize
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against like serialz
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s carapace

Keep in mind these are not practical laws of robotics, simply delaying tactics to puzzle transhumans or impede that frighteningly inevitable ex-singularity super-intelligence, buying us a few valuable milliseconds to escape.

Colin Angle of iRobot wants the horizon clear:

I’m not yet convinced that robots are sufficiently different that they deserve special treatment.

Robots will, Colin might agree, be very very different whenst retorting with searing sarcasm at being ordered to vacuum the dog kennel. Rules will be a tad too-little too-late by then, methinks.

Realism and final word from SF author Robert Sawyer:

The development of AI is a business, and businesses are notoriously uninterested in fundamental safeguards.

I love nanotechnology, even if only because the prefix ‘nano’ evokes the impressive dimensions of Star Trek Voyager’s co-opted crew member, who dispensed nano-probes as prolifically as the machine in your college gym dispenses .. oops.

In dumbing down robotics we tend to overlook the tiny invisible.

Robots will never be artificial life without the finer details of on-board perception. Companies like Nanomix demonstrate working miniatures that we lay folk can only gape at with perplexed surprise, as your average IT helpdesk client gasps when the techie restarts their errant PC: "Computers can do that?"

If for no other reason, I would feature Namomix for their lovely flash banner, or fabulous photo gallery, even if a little off-topic for Bot7.

Oops, I think we just snagged their copyright tripwire (illustration at left)

Why mention them, anyhow? A few months ago they got press for an ‘electronic nose’ but the story failed to excite because illustrations comprised Nanomix dudes wielding small olfactory oddments, whereas we, the unwashed, wanted great picks of a Pythonesque (as in Monty, not some hybrid OOL) rubbery hydrogen-powered snoz warping around a crime scene pushing Inspector Rex out of the way.

Convergent technologies will create our imminent superbeing, and the ‘nano’ part, though less glamorous by diminution, will probably be the most awe-inspiring.

Nanomix Sensation technology is contained in an array of devices that would fit on the head of a pin. Carbon nanotubes are combined on silicon microstructures. Electrical impedance provides a characteristic signal.

The nanotube network, coated with a functional layer that interacts with the chemical or biological analyte of interest, results in measurable change in electronic characteristics. The one nanometer diameter of the nanotubes allows for ultra-sensitive detection as very slight changes in electronic characteristics can be measured.

Hmm, I understand each word, taken separately.

It all began in the corner of an exhibition hall

RoboCup originated in the early 1990’s when Japanese Scientist Mr. Hiroaki Kitano, a guest at Carnegie Mellon University, envisaged a Robotic competition.

In 2006 RoboCup will celebrate its 10th Birthday. Robo-what? you ask.

Robots playing soccer (foosball). Fifty teams, seven leagues, from 12 countries will be showing off their talent in this three-day event. The RoboCup German Open is the second biggest tournament of its kind worldwide.

2,500 scientists from 36 nations vie for the best of best in each league - and 33 world champion soccerbots will stand supreme at the end of it all.

Help from off-field is not permitted while the ball is in play, including falls.

I would Link to Robocup here, but the list of restrictions linking to their website is so pedantic and draconian that, well um, sorry - find it yourself.

First there was a silly headline: "Robots Sweep Floor at Show" as though obviously breaking news, and should a robot should be capable of floor-sweeping, well .. cleaning sinks must be next. Incredible.

The ’show’ just happened to be the 2005 International Robot Exhibition that’s been on biennially since ‘73. Now that’s a veteran ’show.’

A conspicuous ‘roaming profile’ was a strange floor-sweeping bot that I hereby dub RooBot, a moniker obviously derived from his appearance.

There he is, RIDC-01, at right with proud sensei Yoichi Takamoto.

Not sure what he’s holding at the camera - let’s assume (hope) it’s a microphone with wind sock.

Now allow me a little mischief at Tmsuk’s expense.

From their website:

We produced TMSUK-1 in order to replace a receptionist, however, it resulted in higher cost than the personnel cost. This attracted the public attention, and we received orders of receptionist robots.

"Hey, we don’t have a HR dept. and Kaori the receptionist resigned today. We’re engineers - let’s BUILD a receptionist!" The rest is history. All receptionists today, 12 years later, are obviously robots

"Remote-controlled Robot TMSUK-4 has 27 degrees of freedom [but freezes over at Celsius zero], and can be operated from a much more sophisticated control module. We have made 15 of these robots, and sold 11 to universities and research institutes where motivation is currently being investigated.

Motivation, in universities especially, is long overdue for investigation. Tmsuk-4 is sporting a skirt to blend in better for reception duties (for such work is best done by women who - as we all know - are very good at dull repetitive tasks.

TMSUK-5 ..(is) .. to replace people in inapproachable construction and disaster sites .. and uses the power from the gasoline engine to travel.

That was forward-thinking as most of the people in inapproachable sites tended to die off anyway. And gasoline engine power - yes! Long Live r50rd!

TMSUK04-2 - We remodeled TMSUK4 adding 6 buggy tires .. so that it can go over dumps of about 20cm and work on non leveling grounds.

Should go well anywhere except leveling grounds, but in USA dumps are generally 20 meters high, so 20cm won’t cut it.

MUJIRO RIGURIO - Outdoor security and information robot .. modeled on 2004 ARTEMIS, with extremely advanced features such as highly precise GPS, an object-sensitive sensor, an image recognition function, a wall-penetrating human detector.

Yowsers! Humbly and respectfully apologize for impish frivolity at the expense of Tmsuk’s interpreted English. Just a little joyful jest, sans aspersion, intending no disrespect to Tmsuk Company, which is held in the highest regard.

Industrial robotics - makes one reach for the TV remote, or go check the fridge. But wait!

This press release, however, mentioned the word ‘robot(ic) FOURTEEN times! That’s gotta count for something, plus the link to a tiny but cool video showing lots more (boring, admittedly) industrial robots.

The Caterpillar facility in Decatur, Ill., in upgrading of the company’s robotic paint production lines where a number of new robots have been installed, requires intensive re-programming. For this they chose Delmia.

And I’ll give it to you straight because I simply cannot bring myself to rewrite this as somehow interesting "..to deliver the project in a timely manner .. utilizing the DELMIA IGRIP software with UltraPaint add-on is optimal solution. IGRIP is a physics-based, scalable robotic simulation solution for quick and graphical modeling and off-line programming (OLP) of complex, multi-device robotic workcells for applications such as painting, welding, dispensing, material removal and machine tending." (Golleee Sgt Carter!)

[Honest, no offence guys. I know it's your life's work]