Robot Designed To Break First Law - In Order To Save It

From Science Fiction in the News:

A researcher takes a somewhat different direction in trying to figure out ways to keep robots from hurting people. Researcher Sami Haddadin designed and programmed a robot to punch him right in the face. When that wears thin, the robot is free to punch him in the arm, the stomach and the chest. As science fiction fans know, Isaac Asimov (in collaboration with John W. Campbell) created and popularized the idea of "laws of robotics" in his robot fiction of the early 1940's. The First Law of Robotics states that "A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." Haddadin is not some sort of rogue roboticist. He is part of a team at the German Aerospace Centre Space Agency whose task is to figure out ways for robots and humans to share the same work space. And to do that, robots need to be able to sense when they have contacted a human being. Haddadin has given his robot a kinaesthetic sense similar to the ability that humans possess. A person has stretch receptors in their muscles and joints that provide information to the brain when a muscular movement has been unexpectedly interrupted. Haddadin embedded torque sensors in each of the six joints of the robot. The sensors consist of metal foil devices that change their electrical resistance when under tension in a given direction. They provide constant feedback to the robot on the direction and magnitude of forces.

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