Friday Poll: What should robots never do?

CNET News Poll

Robot restrictions
What should robots never, ever be allowed to do?

Drive during rush hour
Play professional sports
Run for public office
Perform a root canal
Take it beyond kissing
Play as a Druid in WoW

View results

Please, no more than this.

(Credit: Taiwan Tech)

Here at Crave, we like to keep our eyes out for the latest in robots. Just this week, for example, we told you about kissing robots and a robot that can solve Sudoku puzzles. And really, the wacky-robot news never ends.

In recent months, we've featured a fashion model robot, a sunflower robot, a mind-controlled robot, and an eerie robobaby, to name just a few.

Advancements in modern robotics amaze, amuse, and occasionally appall, which got us wondering. What should robots never, ever be allowed to do? Vote in our poll, and if we missed anything (given the endless possibilities, we're sure that we did), leave a comment below.

[BogusBasin]

Robots should never be allowed to run on any form of Windows.

Amen

[Mr. Dee]

They could never run Mac OS X, because they would be too expensive, not 64 bit capable, easy to hack and not upgradable.

Can't run Linux, because they would be too hard to manage and configure and too technical for humans to interact with.

[tubbycustard]

Ummm I'm pretty sure Snow Leopard is 64 bit capable and if they did run on Windows they would always be moving at a glacial pace and get the "blue screen of death" every 5 minutes.

[make_or_break]

Likely a robot would be able to HACK Windows so that it actually runs worth a damn. And while they're at it, they might see it as a challenge to write a REAL virus for OS X.

Anything to get under the skin of us mere, subordinate humans...

[cvaldes1831]

'Droids shouldn't pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lose.

[akljsdj]

Thats Chewbacca Idiot

[4score20]

Robots should never be allowed to watch television or else they will discover how easy it is to distract and control humans. Machines will control us someday anyway if they don't already...(excuse me, my cellphone needs me.....ok I'm back) so why make it easier for them?

[Lenman_99]

go to church, because you wouldn't be able to tell the humans from the robots.

[ScorpioKing1990]

lmao amen

(pun intended)

[LVLLN]

Where's the kill option? Robots should one day be able to do everything except that.

[Mindstrike]

I think robots should be required to be able to self assemble so when they are hit upside the control panels with a brick or baseball bat I won't have to buy another one. They should have to be able to take a fall also - just in case I throw it off the roof.

[e1000sn]

Robots already 'take it beyond kissing' every day, it's kind of late to add that poll option.

[Dr_Zinj]

I don't think a blowup latex doll qualifies as a robot.

[danlandryseattle]

If robots become smarter, more cunning ,and with more enjoyable personalities, and breath taking good looks, they will be asking the question "is there anything humans should be allowed to do?" Robots should be allowed to do everything, otherwise we're just prolonging the inevitable.

[nrg.dude]

It is so obvious:

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 any orders given to 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 Law.

And then there is the "zeroth" law:
0. A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

If only humans could follow these laws...

[Dr_Zinj]

Define injury.
Define harm.
A robot may not inflict stress on a human being beyond the level that that human needs for growth or, through inaction, allow a human being to be stressed beyond that point.
Some injury or harm is necessary for us to learn, grow, and develop.

[aeisha1]

i love Bicentiennial Man. sorry if i misspelled.

[z_master]

Oh my gosh, an "I, Robot" quote...

[bigjon94]

And dont talk about fight club.

[willdryden]

I would suggest that a robot should never disobey an order even if it is harmful to the person giving the order. I saw a TV show where a cooking robot kept a family hostage "for their own good" because they were over weight and it was afraid they woud go off their diets if they left the house.

[darthstupid]

Eat human flesh! Leave that to zombies.

[AjoyBhatia]

The most fundamental rules for what a robot must never EVER do, from Isaac Asimov's "Laws of Robotics":
Law Zero: A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
Law One: A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, unless this would violate a higher order law.

[Mindstrike]

We use robots to kill everyday! So start over with the imaginary "laws".

[Mr. Dee]

What should robots never do?

Touch me in the morning

[abundantsnotbob]

2nd, 3rd, and 5th.

[Rod Roddy]

Run a computer company **cough** Apple **cough**

[sting7k]

I look forward to the day when I can get in my car and arrive at my destination having done nothing.

[moviegeek65]

D?mo arigat?, Mr. Roboto

[Itsiliii]

Hahaha
why is there a mac/windows fight going
on in a ROBOT article

seriously people?!

seriously?!