Besides framing the three laws that governed the behaviour of robots, it is to Isaac Asimov that the use of the word robotics
(as a
science distinct from physics or mechanics) must be credited. However, in his introduction to this volume, Isaac Asimov has paid generous homage to another innovator in this field – the Czech writer Karel Capek who brought us Rossum’s Universal Robots.
It was Karel Capek who first introduced robots, or machines designed to resemble humans and perform human tasks, to an unsuspecting world.
In “I, Robot”, the stories dealt with the conflict between human and robot, and how it was resolved. In “The Rest of the Robots”, the author introduces us to the coming of the robots, and to the laws of robotics. In that sense, “The Rest of the Robots” is not a sequel but a forerunner and prelude to “I, Robot”, as the action precedes that which occurs in “I, Robot”. In both the volumes put together, the author traces the evolution of robots from the first stirrings to the last development.
In told there are seventeen stories in all – nine formed part of the first collection (“I, Robot”), and the balance eight form part of this collection (“The Rest of the Robots”).
Though the stories may be read separately, the author has attempted to arrange them in a chronological sequence.
As in “I, Robot”, the central character in “The Rest of the Robots” is Susan Calvin, who has been described as a robot psychologist. A cybernetist by training, Susan Calvin has devoted her whole life to the study of robots. To Susan Calvin, robots are not soulless creatures to be created and destroyed. They are another type of sentience, not quite human but almost human.
“I, Robot” and its companion volume are a must read for genuine fans of science
fiction. They have those qualities that science fiction is best known for – they are original in that they introduce a new way of thinking to the world, and they are prophetic in that the science follows the fiction.
Isaac Asimov saw the coming of the age of robots, when the technology did not exist. Now that the age of robots has dawned, we can fully appreciate the acuteness of his vision.