Reading this commentary, it looks as if I did not enjoy this album, which is untrue! It's a great piece of classic pop music.
The story, formed as a suicide note tells the story of a unnamed, sentient robot created by a scientist named Dr. Link after 20 years of trying. Dr. Link takes the role of a rather fatherly figure, teaching the robot how to read, and walk, and such. In his walking lessons with Dr. Link, he comes across the house cleaner, who is scared half to death, until Dr. Link calms her. She remains suspicious of him. The Robot spends every walking hour (which is every hour) reading, and learning, and in a short time, he has exhausted the Dr. Link's library.
After the robot matures a little, the Dr. gives him a name...Adam Link. Shortly after, in a freak accident, Dr. Link is killed, and naturally, the housekeeper blamed Adam. In trying to escape from her puny attacks, Adam hurt her, and almost kills her. Adam, after several days on the run, goes back to the laboratory, needing a new battery. As he enters Dr. Links office, he sees the one book not in the library. Frankenstein. Reading it, Adam realized what he is, an abomination, and lets himself die.
The Three Laws of Robotics:
In I, Robot, Isaac Asimov set out the three laws of robotics, and then set out to find loopholes in the laws. What happens, for instance, with a robot who can read minds, who feels it necessary to tell each person who asks questions of it the answers that that person most wants to hear? Wouldn't giving any other answer, even a true answer, be hurtful (and therefore in violation of the first law)? What about a bright, arrogant robot who is told by a pissed off worker to "Get lost"--isn't the robot obligated to remain hidden? What about robots asked to solve problems that could potentially bring harm to humans? Should the positronic brain give the answer, or refuse to consider the question? What if (he) has been programmed with a sense of humor?
The thread that holds the short stories in I, Robot together is the intervention of Susan Calvin, robo-psychologist. Calvin is brought in when the robots suffer mental breakdowns, refuse to cooperate (!) or otherwise malfunction. Like Dian Fossey, who preferred her gorillas in the mist to humans, Calvin has decided that robots, by design, are more decent and humane than their creators.
Asimov wrote I, Robot in 1950; his three laws of robotics have influenced his own work since that time, as well as that of many other science fiction and fantasy writers (see New Laws of Robotics and Zeroth Law of Robotics, Robot series and Robot and Empire).
Asimov, Isaac, I, Robot, 1991 edition available in paperback from Bantam Books, ISBN 0553294385
See also: www.bookworm.com.au/bt000154.htm www.asimovonline.com/
I, Robot was an old arcade game released by Atari Games way back in 1983.
The team of Dave Theurer and Dave Sherman designed this title. There are a lot of myths and legends surrounding this game, from the actual production numbers, to the story of 500 of them being dumped into the ocean. It seems to be very difficult to sort the facts from the fiction when it comes to this title. I will get into that a bit later, for now lets talk about why this game was so remarkable.
I, Robot was the first true 3-D polygon arcade game ever made. When I say 3-D, I mean real 3-D, no wire frames done with vector graphics, no Zaxxon style isometric viewpoints, and no faking out 3-D with lots of sprites, ala Blaster. I, Robot actually was in 3-D just like Super Mario 64 or Quake, and it even had a moveable camera. But there was one big problem with the game, people had never seen a real 3-D game before, and they couldn't handle it. I, Robot probably would have done just fine if it had been a racing game, and indeed that was what it was supposed to be at first. But it ended up being a very complicated 3-D pseudo platformer, and most people just couldn't figure the game out.
The production numbers for this game were fairly low for Atari. A lot of websites like to toss around the number 1000, but they just say that because it is a nice round number. The real production numbers seem to be somewhere around 1300 or so. These games had sequential serial numbers, starting with 001 and going on up from there. There exists an I, Robot registry website that lists around 30 machines that are located in the United States. The serial numbers on those games progress fairly smoothly from 029 up to 0762. So that gives us at least 762 machines produced. But, 500 machines were shipped to Japan. The ones that went to Japan were probably the last ones produced, because serial numbers are used in order, and then the games go into the warehouse pretty much in order. Eventually Atari couldn't sell anymore machines due to bad word of mouth (probably somewhere around machine #770), so they made a deal to send the rest of them to Japan (accounting for numbers 0770 to around 1270. The 500 machines that went to Japan simply couldn't have come out of the 762 verified serial numbers, as that is two thirds of them, and there are still too many machines around today for there to have only been 262 of them in America, and the missing numbers 0763 through 1000 kill the idea that the ones that went to Japan were selected randomly.
Or to make a long story a bit shorter, there were probably around 1300 of these bad boys made.
Now where was I? Oh yes, Japan. There is a common story that says that all the machines that were sent to Japan were tossed in the ocean on orders from Atari headquarters. I take some issue with that story for a few reasons. First off, there are I, Robot machines in Japan, and no one imports entire game cabinets one at a time, so they more than likely came from that shipment. Now, I could possible see Atari ordering the games destroyed to save face with Namco, as Atari never was really known for their smart business decisions. But what I could not see is any ship Captain with half a brain actually following through on those orders.
The retail value on those games in 1983 was around 2 million dollars USD, and even at auction they could have probably brought in close to a million. I just don't see any ship captain with any sort of intelligence dumping that kind of cargo. Plus, like I said before, there are some I, Robot machines in Japan.
Another misconception related to the number of these machines is the idea that "I, Robot had the smallest production run ever", and "I, Robot is the rarest game around today". Both of those are dead wrong. The production numbers were small for Atari in 1983, but plenty of smaller game companies like Moppet Video were putting out titles with production runs under 1000, and pretty much every game before Space Invaders had miniscule production runs. So, no, I, Robot's small production run was only strange for Atari, not for the industry in general. Now moving on to the idea that I, Robot is the rarest game around today, and the survey says, not even close. The I, Robot registry page lists 25 verified machines in the United States, now add to those all the ones that are not registered, the ones sitting in warehouses, the ones that are owned by people who don't use the internet, and the ones owned by people who don't even know what they have. Those unregistered ones probably account for at least 100 more of them. There are plenty of games that have no verified examples known to exist anymore, and many more that there are only one or two of them known to be around. For that matter there were a few games with production runs under 100.
I, Robot is the story of Interface Robot #1984. You see robot #1984 loved jumping, but Big Brother forbids jumping, so #1984 has to do all his jumping when the watchful eye of Big Brother isn't looking, or else face annihilation.
You control the robot as he hops around a geometric in an attempt to turn all red squares into blue squares, so you can have a chance at taking down Big Brother himself. But you have to be really careful, as the eye of Big Brother floats over the screen, and jumping when the eye is red will cause your robot to get blasted with a laser beam. Big Brother also would send out a variety of smaller foes against you, such as birds and sharks. The eye can be destroyed after turning all of the bricks to blue, after that you move onto the next level.
All the even numbered levels are space levels, where you guide robot #1984 through space. Blast or dodge everything in sight until the level ends, and you are presented with another landscape, along with another eye to deal with. Every third level you would get to go inside a little pyramid and attempt to grab as many jewels as you could before being blasted.
The game had 99 normal levels and 99 space levels to conquer, after which the game starts over at the beginning. Remember that you can change the camera angle at anytime. Usually you don't have to worry about it, but some of the levels are much easier if you adjust the camera for a better viewpoint.
People who didn't quite feel up to facing Big Brother could instead spend their quarter playing "Doodle City", which was a little 3-D paint program that used the I, Robot engine and graphics to let the player draw things on screen. You could select Doodle City at the beginning of the game, and you could switch to the real game if you grew tired of doodling, but it would cost a life or two.
There was only one kind of I, Robot machine made, the upright dedicated cabinet. The only other game that used this exact cabinet was Firefox, although the Major Havoc cabinet was similar. The best way to describe this cabinet is to say that it looked really top heavy. This cabinet wasn't just a straight up and down affair; the monitor area, control panel, and bottom section were all different sizes and the whole machine flared out at the bottom.
The game featured partial sideart in the form of a field of red, blue, and yellow blocks floating in a field of stars. The marquee showed an "I, Robot" logo composed of 3-D multicolored blocks. Their were nor important decorations on the control panel or monitor bezel, although the monitor did have a pair of grill like plastic plates on either side of it.
The action was controlled with a single "Hall Effect" joystick mounted centrally and a camera button on the side of the control panel. This joystick was a fairly new kind of gaming control, but it never did catch on, a few other titles such as Road Runner used this stick, but they are almost impossible to find today. A joystick that worked off of magnetic fields probably wasn't the best idea anyway (see Hall Effect and Hall Effect sensor for more details). Some people have managed to replace these joysticks with other kinds of analog sticks, but it requires custom work, and doesn't have the same feel as the Hall Effect stick.
The easiest place to play this game is in the privacy of your own home, using the MAME emulator. You will need a good analog joystick to get the proper I, Robot experience, a normal gamepad just won't cut it for this title. There weren't any console versions of this game, and the last arcade that actually had an I, Robot is closed down (The old Arcade Museum in St. Louis had one, but they closed a few years ago).
You may want to add this to your arcade game collection. But let me remind you of the movie Ferris Beuller's Day Off. Remember the 1961 Ferrari 250GT California that Cameron's dad owned, and how he never drove it, he just rubbed it with a diaper? That is exactly how this game is. It is too valuable to actually play. If it breaks you are looking at really expensive repairs using impossible to find parts. I suggest spending the money on six nice games that you can actually play.
I, Robot is a movie released in the year 2004, starring Will Smith and Bridget Moynahan. The movie's plot is loosely based on the series of short stories written by Isaac Asimov (and covered elsewhere in this node.)
Review written by myself
I must admit, it's not the most brilliant, thought-provoking movie to come out this year, but it requires more brain power than your typical "watch the big explosions and dead people and blood" movie. While the original I, Robot provides subtle social commentary, this one is more of an exploration of... well... what would happen if robots got minds of their own. It really doesn't try to make any big points or anything, it's just a thought-provoking movie. I really enjoyed that the script was co-written by Akiva Goldsman, of A Beautiful Mind, one of my favorite movies of all time. She seems to have a talent for writing well on movies that otherwise would have fallen flat (admittedly, the biopic of a mathematician doesn't really spark people's interest all the time.)
The CG in the movie was wonderful; the robots have two very distinct styles, the scenes where Will Smith is walking around town fill the city with equal parts robots and humans, with the entire thing looking as if someone had moved into the future to film it. The robots, when fighting, move very nimbly and quickly, and the movie trades explosions for some sweet fast-motion scenes on cars and bikes.
The movie has a good deal of wit, with some fun jokes that you wouldn't really expect from a movie... well, except one with Will Smith in it. Smith delivers his lines with a great deal of bravado and honesty, and it really feels like he's found a home in the year 2035. His costar is kind of forgettable, however. She shows emotion well, but I think partially due to the nature of her character, she just seems to fall into the background a lot of the time. She does have some memorable moments, however, a few of which are showcased in the numerous commercials and trailers for it.
The most amazing feat, however, is the lifelikeness of the robot Sonny, and his kin. It seemed like he could have been C-3PO, with the slightly monotone delivery and intelligent demeanor, except for the fact that he is more lifelike than any other "robot" in film that I've seen. He has lips, a nose, his entire body moves human-like, and it really engrosses you into this universe where robots are the norm.
The movie does have shortcomings, such as an ending that seems to be attempting to foreshadow a sequel, even though there isn't room for one (not to mention that the ending in general is a headscratcher), and a couple of questions that are asked, but never fully answered. Also, one scene involving a cat seems a little too wacky for my tastes.
The humor is sharp (for the most part), the story is excellent (for the most part), and the CG is awesome. For the most part, this is an excellent movie that anyone with the willpower to think during action sequences is going to enjoy.
The one thing I am not sure of is how much liberties the movie takes with the short stories. I haven't read them, but I've heard that it was basically borrowing a couple of concepts from them and then running with them. The credits at the end even read "SUGGESTED BY the stories by Isaac Asimov", instead of the usual "BASED ON". Not sure what that means, but I'm assuming it means that they didn't keep enough of the original stories in there to be based on them.
belgand sent me a msg explaining the title and relation to Asimov more clearly:
The movie was not really based on the book, it was originally developed and titled "Hardwired" with the title "I, Robot" allegedly only coming in late in the production. Given how many other films have used Asimov's now classic ideas this seems quite a bit more likely. Fox probably merely added in a few changes in names and such once they changed the title.
Asimov would be violently convulsing in his grave, had he seen the new I, Robot movie that is supposedly based on his work. With Will Smith as the mighty tasty consumerist god in the lead role - how could this become anything but a complete and utter disaster?
Although somehow, it didn't.Let me start this article by quoting the words of a man far wiser than myself, namely Maddox, of "The greatest page in the world" fame:
I don't know why, but after the movie I came out of the theater wanting to buy a pair of Converse shoes (vintage 2004), have them delivered to my local FedEx station, drive my MV Augusta SPR motorcycle to pick them up, stop by the shop to have my new JVC CD player installed in my Audi, pick up a couple of Dos Equis on my way home, wash it down with an Ovaltine and then invest what money I have left into a mutual fund with Prudential Life Insurance. (read his whole article titled I, Robot in a nutshell here: http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=i_robot)
I don't know why, but after the movie I came out of the theater wanting to buy a pair of Converse shoes (vintage 2004), have them delivered to my local FedEx station, drive my MV Augusta SPR motorcycle to pick them up, stop by the shop to have my new JVC CD player installed in my Audi, pick up a couple of Dos Equis on my way home, wash it down with an Ovaltine and then invest what money I have left into a mutual fund with Prudential Life Insurance.
(read his whole article titled I, Robot in a nutshell here: http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=i_robot)
And right he is. The entire movie is a huge commercial banner for the mentioned companies - especially Audi, although the 2048-version of their cars is, indeed, mighty mighty tasty. The thorough and complete saturation of product placement becomes particularly blatent when it is obvious that the filmmakers didn't manage to secure a deal: In a scene where Smith and one of his buddies are having a few beers, the beer brand Dos Equis (two crosses) is prominently displayed on the back wall of the bar, but when they are drinking, they are holding the labels away from the camera so consistently that it has to be a kick to the groin to some beer company or another. Ridiculous.
Oh, the film. Well, I have to say I was mighty disappointed, in that I understood the majority of the plot within the first five minutes. You see; We are presented with three laws that robots HAVE to follow. Knowing Asimov (although this is a stylistic familiarity, not that Asimov would come up with something this trite), I thought it blatently obvious that the three laws would themselves be the pitfall of the film, and the robots would find a loophole.
Apart from guessing the ending before the film began, it was actually quite an enjoyable ride. The camerawork and CGI work was absolutely outstanding, with all the qualities of a rollercoaster-ride. The story itself could have been far worse, and the execution of it was just about flawless, without regressing into infinite soppyness.
All in all, you could do a lot worse for killing a couple of hours than watching this film. Oh, it isn't as heartfelt as AI, and the futuristic genious falls a mile short of 2001: a space oddyssey, but it is one of those flicks that gives you a few sad moments, a few giggles, and just enough time to munch your popcorn. Which is more than you can say about many other films out there.
In 1939, Isaac Asimov wrote the short story "Robbie" (originally published with the cringe-worthy title "Strange Playfellow") about a young girl and her love for her robot nanny. An important point in the story is that the robot could not harm a human. In this early story, the form of the safety mechanism was not made explicit. It was, however, mentioned that before a robot could harm a human, it would have to be so damaged that it would not function at all.
A short time later, Asimov wrote another robot story, called "Runaround", in which a malfunctioning robot endangers two humans failing to return with some much needed selenium to repair the Mercury base. It is in this story that he lays out the Three Laws of Robotics in their classic form:
A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
In the story, the Third Law had been set up unusually strong to protect the expensive, experimental robot and the Second law had been set up unusually weak by phrasing the instructions as a casual request rather then a direct order. The unusual balance between the Second Law and Third Laws caused the robot to circle the dangerous area endlessly. Invoking the First Law by placing a human in direct danger broke the conflict. (Incidentally, Oxford English Dictionary cites this story as the first use of the word "robotics".)
Asimov wrote many stories about his robots, including at least 4 novels and countless short stories. These stories were collected into numerous volumes including I, Robot, The Complete Robot, and Robot Visions among others. The book I, Robot is a short story anthology bound together by a framing story interlaced between the others. In the 1970s Warner Brothers optioned the movie rights to I, Robot and
