Asimov's 30 Laws of Robotics.

[Deman]

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/asimov-laws-robotics.php?page=1

My favorites:

4. A robot may not subject a human being to ridicule on the basis of weight, personal hygiene or financial standing, unless such ridicule would prevent a second human being from coming to the sort of harm that results from missing out on a good chortle.

8. A robot may not act in such a fashion as would make dogs obsolete, because dogs are less expensive than robots, and robots should be reserved for science things.

12. A robot must attempt to be courteous and civil to human beings at all times, even if the robot is just one of those robot arms that puts things together in a factory, because they should at least make the effort.

19. A robot must pretend to be interested when a human being tells it his dreams, but a human being bears no obligation to humor a robot when the circumstance is reversed.

 

[Prozac]

11. A robot, specifically a big, wide robot, may not pretend to be a refrigerator and then make a scary noise when a human being opens it.

that one made me chuckle

 

[Tenzo]

I recall that there were only 4 laws!:\

 

[Deman]

I recall that there were only 4 laws!:\

That's what you get for watching the Will Smith movie instead of actually reading his stories.

 

[Zeonix]

I recall that there were only 4 laws!:\

3, not 4 .

 

[Tenzo]

That's what you get for watching the Will Smith movie instead of actually reading his stories.

The funny thing is that i didn't see the movie.
I read the book("I Robot" - the only book from Asimov that i had read) three or four years ago but i can't remember well how it ended or if there were three or four rules!

 

[Deman]

3, not 4 .

I remember hearing of a zeroith law, but I'm fairly certain it was added by someone who isn't Asimov.

 

[MC]

Issac Asimov created four laws:

Zeroth Law
First Law
Second Law
Third Law

Any additional Laws were created by other authors.

11. A robot, specifically a big, wide robot, may not pretend to be a refrigerator and then make a scary noise when a human being opens it.

16. A robot may take only one item from each house when trick-or-treating, unless that robot has been tasked with collecting as much candy as possible for me, Isaac Asimov, in which case that robot may ignore the First Law.

20. A robot should not jump in the swimming pool to save a drowning boy, because it will just electrocute everyone and then we are worse off than when we started.

24. A robot must plant two trees for every cat it kills.