Via the reminiscences of Chief Robopsychologist Dr Susan Calvin, I, Robot offers the reader snapshots of a future fraught with remarkable technologies and unthought-of moral conundrums. In 'Robbie', a little girl grows so attached to her robot nanny that she is inconsolable when her parents try to replace him; field engineers Powell and Donovan must deal with the religious mania of a robot that refuses to believe that human beings – creatures so 'soft and flabby' and 'makeshift' – could be responsible for its creation; and in 'Liar!' a telepathic robot lies to its human colleagues to save their feelings, with terrible consequences. In each story, Asimov reveals a new facet of this complex future and the unexpected consequences of the Three Laws, ultimately sowing the seeds for his acclaimed 'Foundation Trilogy'.
The Three Laws of Robotics
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
