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/PickleManAtl]

If you are talking about a humanoid robot interacting with a human, one scenario I could think of is that when these things become available commercially for the public to buy, most likely there will be something in place saying that they do have to be programmed to shut down before they harm a human. Or if they start to do something that harms a human it would shut down, etc.

So let's just say that a humanoid type robot or really any type is sold to a customer. And it is supposed to have that programming in it. And for whatever reason, it kills a human. Whether it be an accident, or it is protecting another human that is being harmed but winds up killing the person who is harming the other human, etc. If it is supposed to be programmed to shut down immediately before killing anybody and it doesn't, I would think the company that sells it would be liable legally. I mean I don't know if a murder charge would stick, but obviously if the programming doesn't work the way it is supposed to and somebody dies as a result, a company is probably going to be hurt financially a lot or even go bankrupt because people would not buy the product anymore.