The famous author of science fiction Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) wrote a short story in 1942 entitled "Runaround," in which he defined three important rules robots must follow. Of course, in the 1940s, robots were two-legged androids, not industrial machines with little resemblance to humans that began to materialize in the 1960s. See
laws,
industrial robot and
AI in a nutshell.
The Three Laws of Robotics
Law 1.
A robot may not injure a human being or,
through inaction allow a human being to
come to harm.
Law 2.
A robot must obey the orders given it by human
beings except where such orders would conflict
with the First Law.
Law 3.
A robot must protect its own existence as long
as such protection does not conflict with the
First or Second Law.