Little Lost Robot - I, Robot "Little Lost Robot" Summary | I, Robot by Isaac Asimov- Summary, Themes & Characters - Novels PDF Download

Originally published in 1947.

• The interviewer points out that Calvin's stories are great, but maybe she could tell a story about something that actually affects people's lives today. Like the invention of the hyperatomic motor, since it was robots that invented it.
• So she tells him about a little lost robot, which happens to be the title of this story.
• It's 2029. Calvin and Bogert arrive at the government's Hyper Base research station in space. They are met by Major-General Kallner, commander of Hyper Base and the leader of the Hyperatomic drive project. (There's not much of a description here, but we imagine Kallner as looking something like Leslie Groves, the military commander of the Manhattan Project, which developed the nuclear bomb.)
• Kallner explains why he had Calvin and Bogert brought there: one of their special NS-2 robots has gone missing and is hiding himself in a cargo ship with 62 other NS-2 robots that look identical—but aren't. And he wants Calvin and Bogert to find the missing robot.
• In order to find the missing robot, he has to tell Calvin what makes their NS-2 robots special. The answer: their NS-2s don't have the whole First Law imprinted in their brains (34).
• See, the First Law states, "No robot may harm a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm" (46). But at Hyper Base, some scientists had to work in radiation to get their work done. And the regular robots kept interrupting their research (and sometimes dying) because any time a regular robot saw a scientist in a radiation field, that robot would have to act—it couldn't let a human be harmed by its inaction.
• So, the government ordered NS-2s that lacked the second part: these robots could let a human be hurt through inaction. Problem solved.
• Except, of course, the government and US Robots had to keep this super secret because people on Earth would flip out if they learned about robots without the First Law. And the government (and US Robots) can't let this one special robot get out.
• Calvin has a simple solution: destroy all 63 robots on the cargo ship. She's really not thrilled about the idea of robots without the First Law, pointing out to Bogert that modifying the first law would make the positronic brain unstable. She thinks that modified First Law robots might learn to kill people.
• But Bogert and Kallner would rather they try to find the missing robot before destroying all of them. Bogert also accuses Calvin of having a Frankenstein complex (66).
• (Unlike Powell and Donovan, who fight playfully and seem to like each other, Calvin and Bogert fight for real. So, aren't we all glad that this is the team working to prevent a robot rebellion?)
• The next day, Calvin and Bogert talk to Gerald Black, a physicist who was the last person to see Nestor-10, the missing robot.
• It turns out that the Nestor robots can be very annoying to the scientists. So Black lost his temper with Nestor-10 and told it to "Go lose yourself" (91)—except with a few more curses and swear-words. So that's what Nestor-10 is trying to do: to keep himself lost. Get it? Nestor-10 was given an "order" to lose himself and it was a very strong order (what with all those curses).
• Calvin and Bogert start interviewing and testing the 63 Nestors on the cargo ship, though they can't find any differences.
• Calvin is worried that a Nestor with a modified First Law might resent being dominated by humans, who are inferior to robots. And maybe, with an unstable positronic brain, Nestor-10 might lose the rest of the First Law (122). Then we'd finally have that robot rebellion we've been waiting for.
• (There's a little interlude here where Black talks to a workman named Walensky who is working on the stage for the robot tests. But Walensky doesn't really understand what's going on and isn't getting the whole truth. Since this story deals with superiority and inferiority, it might be interesting to look at what sort of relations the people have with each other.)
• Here's the first test Calvin comes up with: the robots see a person who is about to be crushed by a weight. The 62 robots who have the full First Law have to act to save the person. (At the last second, the weight is diverted, so the person was never really in danger.)
• But when they run the test, all 63 robots act the same. Although Nestor-10 doesn't have to save the person (the other 62 have to because of the First Law), he chooses to anyway.
• Here's the second test Calvin comes up with: it's the same as the first, but there are (fake) electrified cables between the robots and the person. Because the First Law (save humans) is more powerful than the Third (save yourself), the unmodified Nestors should leap to save the person, even if it means their death. The modified Nestor, however, lacks the "save humans" command, so he should be ruled by the Third Law and stay seated (179).
• But when they run the test, all of the robots stay seated. When Calvin interviews them after the test, it turns out that they talked before the test; and one of the Nestors pointed out that they couldn't save the human and if they stayed seated, they might save a human some time in the future (203, 210).
• Calvin, Bogert, and Kallner fight a bunch: Calvin wants all the robots destroyed or she'll take this to the public, Kallner threatens to imprison Calvin, Bogert… well, for once, Bogert keeps his cool. (Which, if you remember "Liar!," is something that Bogert doesn't always do.)
• But then Calvin comes up with a third test since Nestor-10 was taught some physics at Hyper Base. The other Nestors don't yet know anything about physics because they're produced without that knowledge.
• Here's the third test: it's the same as the second, but instead of electrified cables, Calvin tells the Nestors that there will be a dangerous gamma ray field between the robot and the endangered human. Also, the robots don't get a chance to talk together before the test. (Darn gossipy robots.)
• One more change: Calvin will pretend to be in danger so she can keep a close watch on the robots she most suspects. Which is a great plan: Hey, I think one of those robots might be crazy—let me get closer to him!
• When they run the test, only one robot jumps up to save her and they've got Nestor-10. (We'll tell you how after these messages from our sponsors.)
• Nestor-10 tries to attack Calvin because she found him and he's trying to stay lost. But the First Law still holds and he can't really bring himself to attack her. But still, Gerald Black panics and uses gamma radiation to kill Nestor-10.
• Before going home, Calvin explains to Kallner how she caught Nestor-10: although the humans told the Nestors that there would be deadly gamma radiation, there was only harmless infrared radiation. But only Nestor-10 knew enough about physics to tell the difference between the two. And, on top of that, Nestor-10 thought people were dumb and couldn't tell the difference between gamma radiation and infrared radiation. So Nestor-10 was caught because of his own superiority complex (333). Oh, the irony—it stings.
• Oh, and Kallner agrees to destroy all of the special Nestors.