Language Study

Text study and essay writting English upper intermediate LANGUAGE STUDY Asimov’s robots can be described as clumsy, hard-working, cost-efficient, soulless, strong, fast, obedient, human-made, a cleaner better breed, more human than man. Robots can be caring, gentle, self-aware, creative, intelligent and also evil, rebellious. Robots are made out of metal, plastic, aluminum, gears, bolts, wheels, sensors, memory chips, and other gadgets.

TEXT STUDY Asimov’s book “I, Robot” is full of exciting short stories about human-robot relations.

But the one story that really touched me was the first of the nine: Robbie. I have read this and many other Asimov books throughout the years. Not all of them but most of them. Besides the “Foundation” series,” I, Robot” kept me reading it while sitting at the end of my chair. This book was the first Asimov book I read and it still is my favorite.

Robbie is a heartwarming story about a young girl named Gloria who has a pet robot named Robbie. Robbie was created as a nursemaid robot by U. S. R (United States Robotics). Robbie was Gloria’s best friend and companion.

They had an innocent and sweet relationship.

Robbie was her guardian and sort of a pet. Besides Robbie, Gloria didn’t have any real friends and that started to worry her parents, especially her mother. Her mother didn’t approve of her pet friend saying that he can be dangerous and that a terrible accident may happen. But what I think is that because they are a wealthy family and considered high class, she was also concerned about what the people in the neighborhood say. As time passed, Mrs.

Weston convinced Mr. Weston to get rid of the robot and replace him with a dog.

Gloria wasn’t very happy about this. As time passed, she became very depressed and lonely. She didn’t eat much and was always moping around.

Mrs. Weston then said that they need a change of scenery to separate Gloria from everything that reminded her to Robbie. Eventually they went to New York and Gloria seemed to be regaining her happiness and forgetting about Robbie. Actually, she was under the impression that her parents are taking her to find Robbie in the big city. Mrs.

Weston didn’t give up and tried to get her mind of the robot as much as she could.

One day, they went to a museum to see a special “Children’s program”. There was a Talking Robot exhibit there so Gloria snuck out to talk to the Talking Robot and to ask him where Robbie is (robots at that time didn’t have the ability to speak, Robbie was a mute). She confused the Talking robot as he is programmed to answer simple questions and so he broke down. Mr. Weston latter suggested that they could take Gloria to see the U.

S. R. facilities and to show Gloria that robots are nothing than soulless husks that are used for menial jobs.

When they were taking the tour, Gloria saw a robot at an assembly desk and recognized her friend. She immediately jumped down to the assembly area and ran towards Robbie.

She didn’t notice the supply train that was going to hit her if she continued to run. Mr. Weston jumped down after her but realized he will be too late. He just saw a man like machine rub of his shoulder at high speed while holding his daughter. Robbie saved Gloria from certain death. That is when Mrs.

Weston realized that Mr. Weston organized for the two of them to meat.

Robbie was back with its master and friend Gloria and stayed with her until she was fifteen. Then Robbie had to be taken away due to the robot ban law. This story tells us of the child innocence and unconditional love towards something they hold dear. It is hard to take away that thing, the bond is to strong.

There will always be risks in life and there will always be loose lips in the society, but a child’s love will always be pure and taintless. Mr. Weston realized that and returned Gloria what she valued the most. ESSAY WRITING The film and the book I, Robot: similarities and differences

Isaac Asimov influenced the robotics research and technology with his three laws of robotics that are today being used for basic AI of more advanced robots. Asimov never thought that this was going to happen when he wrote the robot stories in 1945.

In those days, during the chaos of the Second World War, no one thought that someday robots would exist. Today, we have simple household robots for housework like vacuuming and floor-sweeping. With over five hundred books and articles, Isaac Asimov died in 1992 at the age of 72 leaving us a great idea for a better future.

One of his first books was “I, Robot”, a collection of short stories from his early articles held together with a great plot line. The stories are told through an interview with Dr. Susan Calvin.

Dr. Calvin is a robopsychologist working for U. S. R. (United States Robotics).

She is one of the first pioneers who started the robot era. Through this interview she explains how robots evolved during the years. She told the interviewer about the struggle for the survival of robots and acceptance. There were moral issues and even emotional struggle.

The book ends with the misinterpretation of the three laws by the robots and humanity falls under robot control.

In 2004, Will Smith stared in the movie “I, Robot” which was an homage to the “I, Robot” series written by Isaac Asimov. The protagonist, Del Spooner (Will Smith), is a homicide detective who is distrustful of robots living in his era. The timeline is set in a not so distant future where robots are the essential accessory of humankind. He is assigned to investigate the death of Dr. Alfred Lanning. Dr.

Lanning is the creator of the three laws and one of the founders of U.

S. R. Spooner meats Dr. Susan Calvin, a robopsychologist, who was working with Lanning prior his death. Lanning’s death appeared to be suicide but Spooner believed otherwise.

They go up to Lanning’s office and discover Sonny, a robot that has been made in secret by Lanning without the three laws and can feel and think. Before Spooner had time to interrogate Sonny, Lawrence Robertson CEO of U. S. R. claimed that robots cannot kill and no law can judge robots. He took Sonny to be decommissioned but Spooner still didn’t finish his investigation.

He was persistent and with the help from Susan and Sonny, they eventually exposed the true mastermind of the crime. V. I. K. I.

(Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence) is a mainframe computer which has control of every robot wirelessly, rebelled against humanity in hope of improving their lives by making a dictatorship. Spooner and Sonny prevailed and destroyed V. I. K. I. thus saving humanity from enslavement.

While the movie is more action based, Asimov’s books are focused on human-robot relations.

In a lot of Asimov’s robot stories, rarely any robot breaks the three laws. The biggest connection between the movie and the books are the leading characters like Dr. Susan Calvin and Dr. Alfred Lanning.

The “I, Robot” book is a complete history of robots told through Dr. Calvin’s eyes and the movie is just a part of this huge history. Although the plot of the movie isn’t a part of the book, it surly speaks the words and ideas of Isaac Asimov and I think that if he were alive, he would very much appreciate the movie and his acknowledgment and respect in the world of robotics.