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I, Robot

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For other uses, see I, Robot (disambiguation).
I, Robot
Dust-jacket illustration for I, Robot
AuthorIsaac Asimov
Cover artistEd Cartier
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction short stories
PublisherGnome Press
Publication date
1950
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardback)
Pages253 pp
ISBNNA Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
Followed byThe Complete Robot 

I, Robot is a collection of nine English language science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov, first published by Gnome Press in 1950 in an edition of 5,000 copies. The stories originally appeared in the American magazines Super Science Stories and Astounding Science Fiction between 1940 and 1950. Though the stories can be read separately, they share a theme of the interaction of humans, robots, crime, and morality, and when combined they tell a larger story of Asimov's fictional history of robotics. Several stories are about attempts to manipulate the robots into ignoring their rules controlling behavior to cause them to commit crimes planned by humans. Looking at the history of hacking intelligent technology to try to get around controls, this is an eternal problem to watch out for!

Several of the stories feature the character of Dr. Susan Calvin, chief robopsychologist at U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc., the major manufacturer of robots. Upon their publication in this collection, Asimov wrote a framing sequence presenting the stories as Calvin's reminiscences during an interview with her about her life's work, chiefly concerned with aberrant behaviour of robots, and the use of "robopsychology" to sort them out. The book also contains the short story in which Asimov's famous Three Laws of Robotics first appear. Other characters that appear in these short stories are Powell and Donovan, a field-testing team which locates flaws in USRMM's prototype models.

The collection's title is the same as a short story written by Eando Binder, but is not connected to it. Asimov wanted to call his collection Mind and Iron, and initially objected when the publisher changed the title.

I, Robot

The following appeared on the back cover of I, Robot (paperback edition):

To you, a robot is just a robot. But you haven't worked with them. You don't know them. They're a cleaner, better breed than we are.
When Earth is ruled by master-machines... when robots are more human than humankind.
Isaac Asimov's unforgettable, spine-chilling vision of the future - available at last in its first paperback edition.

This is largely inaccurate. The first line is a quotation from one of the book's recurring characters Dr. Susan Calvin, but the rest is incongruous with the themes that Asimov presents in his stories. At the time of the collection's publication, robots were depicted in science fiction as either servile machines or evil creations that revolted in the manner of Frankenstein's monster. Asimov himself said that in writing the Robot stories he sought to replace both views with something more rational.

Contents

Cover art for I, Robot featuring a scene from "Runaround".

Release details

Adaptations

In the 1960s, two short stories from this collection were made into episodes of the television series Out of the Unknown: "The Prophet" (1967), based on "Reason"; and "Liar!" (1969).

In the late 1970s, Warner Brothers acquired the option to make a film based on the book, but no screenplay was ever accepted. The most notable attempt was one by Harlan Ellison, who collaborated with Asimov himself to create a version which captured the spirit of the original. Asimov is quoted as saying that this screenplay would lead to "the first really adult, complex, worthwhile science fiction movie ever made." Although the film was never made, the script eventually appeared in book form under the title I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay, in 1994 (reprinted 2004, ISBN 0-7434-8659-5). Although acclaimed by critics, the screenplay is generally considered to have been unfilmable based upon the technology and average film budgets of the time.

The 12th episode of the USSR science fiction TV series This Fantastic World, filmed in 1987 and entitled Don't Joke with Robots was based on works by Aleksandr Belyaev, Fredrik Kilander and Asimov's Liar! story.[1]

More recently, a film called I, Robot starring Will Smith, was released by Twentieth Century Fox on July 16, 2004 in the United States. It adds some interesting twists and ideas to the stories.

  • The 2002 electronica album by experimental artists Edman Goodrich and David Pinkham (known, at times, to operate under the aliases of "je, le roi!" and "The Ghost Quartet") shares the title of I, Robot, and is heavily influenced by Asimovian themes.
  • The 1977 album I Robot, by The Alan Parsons Project, was inspired by Asimov's I, Robot.
  • A real-life company called iRobot manufactures industrial robots and a robotic vacuum cleaner for home use.
  • The real-life modem manufacturer named U.S. Robotics has the name coined in Asimov's robot series as a robot manufacturer.
  • The animated series The Simpsons had an episode in its fifteenth season entitled "I, D'oh-Bot", in which Homer and Bart compete in a Robot Wars-type competition. Asimov's Three Laws came into play at the end, when one of the robots discovers Homer in the battlefield.
  • The animated series Futurama makes several references to I, Robot:
  • An issue of Sonic the Hedgehog (comic series) was titled "I, Robotnik", an obvious reference to the story.
  • The episode of Star Trek: The Original Series titled "I, Mudd" features a planet populated by androids.
  • The episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation titled "I, Borg" was named after and conceptually based on the I, Robot stories. The episode was about a Borg Drone that was separated from the Borg Collective, and how it learns how to become an individual.
  • The satirical newspaper The Onion published an article entitled "I, Rowboat" [1] in which an anthropomorphized rowboat gives a speech parodying much of the angst experienced by robots in Asimov's fiction, including a statement of the "Three Laws of Rowboatics":
  1. A Rowboat may not immerse a human being or, through lack of flotation, allow a human to come to harm.
  2. A Rowboat must obey all commands and steering input given by its human Rower, except where such input would conflict with the First Law.
  3. A Rowboat must preserve its own flotation as long as such preservation does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
  • The film Bicentennial Man (based on another story by Asimov) includes the Three Laws of Robotics as quoted by the protagonist and android, Andrew.
  • The Bag On Line Adventures feature characters called "IRO-bots"
  • The familiar nickname of "K-bot" given to Australian skiier Michelle Kaunitz was reportedly derived from some friends seeing a TV advertisement for the Will Smith film I, Robot while teasing her about her enormous energy levels back at the ski-lodge. The nickname was initially "K, Robot" but was quickly shortened to the now familiar name of "K-bot."
  • A Tom and Jerry Tales episode has the title, "Hi, Robot".
  • The album Anthem for a New Tomorrow by Screeching Weasel includes a song entitled "I, Robot".
  • The bonus song on Coheed and Cambria's first album, The Second Stage Turbine Blade, is named "IRO-Bot." In the story on which all of Coheed and Cambria's songs are based, IRO-Bots are not actually robots, but androids which are virtually indiscernible from humans and who have super-human abilities.
  • The song "The Body Electric", by the Power Rock band Rush, describes a very close resemblance to the collective storyline of I, Robot.
  • In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, "I Robot, You Jane", a demon possesses a robot.

Notes

  1. ^ Template:Ru icon State Fund of Television and Radio Programs

References

  • Chalker, Jack L. (1998). The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998. Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd. p. 299. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

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