Robot laws: 5 new rules that could save human lives (at least on TV)

How are you supposed to behave if you're a robot? According to the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, there are three simple rules: don't let human beings come to harm, obey orders and protect yourself – in that order of priority. Asimov first set out these three laws of robotics in his 1942 short story Runaround, but since then they've become staples of the genre, violated by artificial intelligence in everything from Doctor Who to Alien. As much as they continue to dominate the conversation, however, Asimov's laws are rapidly becoming out-of-date. After all, we live in a world fast filling with actual robots: driving our cars, performing our medical procedures, influencing our elections and threatening to take our jobs.