Science fiction movies and novels have always had a soft spot for robots. Isaac Asimov, a prolific science fiction writer and scientist developed the Three Laws of Robotics:
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1. Robots must never harm human beings or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
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2. Robots must follow instructions from humans without violating rule 1.
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3. Robots must protect themselves without violating rule 1 and 2.
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Some depictions of these mechanical and electronic marvels in films were sometimes scary and sinister, but the flip side to this was being portrayed as friendly, helpful, and even comical.
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The first big superstar of robots debuted in the classic film Forbidden Planet, where Robby the Robot captured the imagination and delight of sci-fi fans everywhere. But most of us are familiar with R2D2 and C3PO from Star Wars. The darker side of robots was shown in the Terminator movie series.
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If you believe that robots are our friends, there is a contest just for you. It is named the People and Robots Best Friends Forever Design Challenge. This fanciful contest is sponsored by Mozilla, the developers of the popular web browser Firefox, and design company, Studio Number One.
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The contest rules are simple and direct. According to the contest promoters:
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* Make your design about technology making people’s lives ….better. Including robots is good too.
* Designs do not need to include the Firefox logo in the design
* Designs do not need to be composited onto a device (unless you really want to).
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There are three prizes:
First Prize: $1000 cash, and 5% of net sales from your design, Firefox Ogio Messenger Bag , plus $100 in products from infectious.com.
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Second Prize: Roomba Robotic vacuum cleaner, Firefox Ogio Messenger Bag, 5% of net sales from your winning design plus $100 in products from infectious.com.
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Third Prize: $100 of products from infectious.com, Firefox Ogio Messenger Bag, and 5% of net sales from your winning design.
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For the complete rules and submission guidelines click here. The contest deadline is August 24, 2009.