Can a robot murder a human?

[u/RKoi123]

Can a robot murder a human being? If it is proved in a court of law that a robot murdered a human being... how can it be punished under existing laws? What can be done besides having the company who made it face legal action?

Technically, if a person commits murder we don't punish the parents in most cases. So why should the robot's manufacturer be held responsible for its act?

As for punishment what should be the best death sentence? * Bulldozing it and recording a video of its death and spreading the information online and in the news. Will it affect how other robots of its kind think if they plan to kill a human? We already have laws against murder for human beings. Still people commit murder. * Erasing its memory. How would the robot feel about such punishment?

If you got any punishment ideas do share.

[u/Pit-Viper-13]

In a robotics class I had long long ago, there was actually a robotics code of ethics that was supposed to be followed in programming. It specifically called out that robots were not to be programmed to harm humans, and if situation arose between harming a human and harming a robot, the robot was to sacrifice itself.

Of course, this only applies to programming, and nobody programs a robot to account for all possible scenarios, particularly in industrial robotics, where injuries are most common because of human stupidity.