The Third Law: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second laws

ROBIN MURPHY AND David Woods, authors of ‘Beyond Asimov’, are surprised by how little attention is paid to a robot's self-preservation. “Because robots are expensive, you'd think designers would be motivated to incorporate some form of the Third Law into their products,” they say. “Many commercial robots lack the means to protect their owners' investment.” Any application of the Third Law in today's terms would be aimed at protecting humans from financial as well as bodily harm.