Information about I, Robot

I, Robot

Dust-jacket illustration for I, Robot
Author	Isaac Asimov
Cover artist	Ed Cartier
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Science fiction short stories
Publisher	Gnome Press
Publication date	1950
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	253 pp
ISBN	NA
Followed by	The 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 and morality, and when combined they tell a larger story of Asimov's fictional history of robotics.

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.

Contents

• "Robbie"
• "Runaround"
• "Reason"
• "Catch that Rabbit"
• "Liar!"
• "Little Lost Robot"
• "Escape!"
• "Evidence"
• "The Evitable Conflict"

Release details

• New York: Gnome Press, (Trade paperback "Armed Forces Edition", 1951)
• New York: Grosset & Dunlap, (hardcover, 1952)
• London: Grayson, (hardcover, 1952)
• British SF Book Club, (hardcover, 1954)
• New York: Signet Books, (mass market paperback, 1956)
• New York: Doubleday, (hardcover, 1963)
• London: Dobson, (hardcover, 1967)
• ISBN 0-449-23949-7 (mass market paperback, 1970)
• ISBN 0-345-31482-4 (mass market paperback, 1983)
• ISBN 0-606-17134-7 (prebound, 1991)
• ISBN 0-553-29438-5 (mass market paperback, 1991)
• ISBN 1-4014-0039-6 (e-book, 2001)
• ISBN 1-4014-0038-8 (e-book, 2001)
• ISBN 0-553-80370-0 (hardcover, 2004)
• ISBN 91-27-11227-6 (hardcover, 2005)
• ISBN 0-7857-7338-X (hardcover)
• ISBN 0-00-711963-1 (paperback, UK, new edition)
• ISBN 0-586-02532-4 (paperback, UK)

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.

In popular culture

• The 1977 album I Robot, by The Alan Parsons Project, was inspired by Asimov's I, Robot. In its original conception, the album was to follow the themes and concepts presented in the short story collection. The Alan Parsons Project were not able to obtain the rights, so the album's concept was altered slightly (although the name was kept.) ^[2]
• The name of the real-life modem manufacturer named U.S. Roboticswas directly inspired by I Robot. The name is taken from the name of a robot manufacturer that appears throughout Asimov's robot short stories.^[3]
• The animated series Futurama makes several references to I, Robot. The title of the episode "I, Roommate" is a spoof on the short story collection I, Robot by Isaac Asimov, although the plot of the episode has little to do with the original stories.^[4] Additionally, the episode "The Cyber House Rules" included an optician named "Eye Robot" and the episode "Anthology of Interest II" included a segment called "I, Meatbag."
• The satirical newspaper The Onion published an article entitled "I, Rowboat" 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"^[5]
• A real-life company called iRobot manufactures robots for industrial use, a robotic vacuum cleaner for home use, and robots for military applications.
• The episode of titled "I, Mudd" features a planet populated by androids.
• The episode of 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.
• In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, "I Robot, You Jane", a demon possesses a robot.
• 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.
• A Tom and Jerry Tales episode has the title, "Hi, Robot".
• The band Coheed and Cambria makes characters called "IRO-Bots" in their song lyrics and in their webcomic The Bag On Line Adventures. 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.
• An issue of Sonic the Hedgehog (comic series) was titled "I, Robotnik", an obvious reference to the story.
• 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 album Anthem for a New Tomorrow by Screeching Weasel includes a song entitled "I, Robot".

Notes

References

• Chalker, Jack L.; Mark Owings (1998). The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998. Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd., 299. 

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

Robbie • Runaround • Reason • Catch that Rabbit • Liar! • Little Lost Robot • Escape! • Evidence • The Evitable Conflict