fallout-4
I have used the 3rd rank Robotics Expert perk to hack a robot. This robot belongs to a vault though, and I am now feeling bad for having stolen it, but I can't see any way to tell it to go home. Hacking other robots just seem to expand my entourage, not send the previous robot(s) on their way.
Is there a console command or something that will make the robot stop following me and go home?
This depends on what you mean by "stop following you". You can communicate with him (press the talk button) and tell him to stay. You can also tell him to go to a dog house if one exists (or build one for him if one doesn't although there is one in Sanctuary). This will get him to stop following you until you next fast travel.
If you want him to actually leave you alone so you can continue on your journey without a companion, you need to speak to him and select the "Dismiss" option, which will pop up a menu asking where you want to send the companion to.
Alternatively you can take another companion with you.
Unfortunately, the only thing you can do to get Dog(meat) from opening doors and get in your way, is to tell him to "stay". Don't forget to have him "follow" you later on.
Injuring him is not a very efficient solution, as it takes a long time to critically wound him, and he'll quickly recover to leave even more mayhem in his wake. It's much faster and more reliable to have him stay instead.
One thing I've noticed, is that you can close the door right in your dog's face. He won't attempt to open the door again unless you move away from it. I don't know if that's a reliable method, though, as I've only done it once so far.
Best Answer
From the Robotics Expert Wikia page,
It looks like you just need to hack another robot to have it stop following you, but this doesn't specify if it will go back to the vault. However, I did notice the following:
I'm not sure if it would be the same for a robot you took from a vault or if this is a special case due to it being a named robot.