The First Law

The first robot to autonomously and intentionally break Asimov's first law, which states: a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. For each person it detects, the robot decides whether or not to injure them — in a way its creator cannot predict.

While there currently are "killer" drones and sentry guns, there is either always some person in the loop to make decisions or the system is a glorified tripwire. The way this robot differs from what exists is the decision-making process it makes. A land mine, for instance, is made to always go off when stepped on, so no decision. A drone has a person in the loop, so no machine process. A radar-operated gun again is basically the same as a land mine. Sticking your hand into a running blender is your decision, with a certain outcome. The fact that sometimes the robot decides not to hurt a person (in a way that is not predictable) is actually what brings about the important questions and sets it apart. The past systems also are made to kill when tripped or when a trigger is pulled; hurting and injuring for no purpose is usually seen as a moral wrong. Obviously, a needle is a minimum amount of injury, however — now that this class of robot exists, it will have to be confronted.