1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
I, Robot is a collection of short stories by Isaac Asimov. The stories, told by a journalist interviewing Susan Calvin, a misanthrope and robo-psychologist, tell the history of robots and humans. Notable for redefining the perception of robots in fiction, introducing the word "robotics", and inventing the Three Laws Of Robotics (the latter two in the same short story, "Liar").If you are looking for the short story by Eando Binder that was later adapted for The Outer Limits, and which Asimov's publisher stole the title from, click here.If you are looking for the 2004 film of the same name but not quite the same story, click here.
The book provides examples of:
A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Thanks to the Three Laws Of Robotics this is largely avoided, mostly because Asimov thought the idea of this happening was absolutely ridiculous. Though the book does address several issues in which the Three Laws could conflict, the sphere of actions available to a robot while still obeying the Three Laws or alternate interpretations of the Laws that could be reached and and adhered to.
Anti-Climax: Since the reporter and Old!Susan are just a framing device, the book closes very abruptly with Dr. Calvin summarizing her life in a sentence, before the reporter closes that she died recently.
Artificial Intelligence: Naturally, as every Robot has its own Positronic Brain capable of sentient self awareness. There's also Brain and The Machines, which are ridiculously powerful Positronic brains used as super computers, the former of which even has its own personality.
Hates Everyone Equally: Susan Calvin, though it's more of a withering dislike for humans. Robots make much more sense.
Humans Are Bastards: This is Susan Calvin's perspective of humanity. "Robots are essentially decent."
Hyperspace Is a Scary Place: Powell and Donovan are dead during the hyperspace jump. The period of their deaths was made... interesting, with an advertisement for Cadaver's Coffins and the lines to get into hell.
Invoked. The computer that sent them there knew this, and even though it was temporary, it unbalanced the computer, causing it to become a practical joker.
The short story, "Liar" has one at the climax, causing a mind-reading robot to self destruct.
In "Escape!", the hyperspace equations act as one to US Robot's rivals' supercomputer.
Machine Monotone: Most robots, especially the earlier ones, have harsh, monotone metallic voices that make them sound like they are "reciting by rote." Some of the more advanced robots like Cutie and Dave have less artificial sounding voices.
Messy Hair: Donovan's hair always springs back to the same unruly state he does to it, so he just doesn't bother. Anyway, he has bigger problems when we see him.
Nature Versus Nurture: Used this with regards to robots, of all being, by comparing physically and positronically identical robots who developed with different frames of reference (generally resulting in aberrant behavior).
Needle in a Stack of Needles: A robot with a edited-down version of the First Law is told to get lost, and hides among a shipment of other identical robots. The only difference between them is in the software, so it's not easy to catch him.
Not so Different: In the short story Evidence, Dr. Calvin gets into a discussion of this sort. When asked outright if robots are so different from humans, she answers: "Worlds different. Robots are essentially decent" which provides a sharp look into her mindset concerning humanity.
Platonic Cave: Q-T decides that the space station is the entire universe, and the views of space outside are a material mounted outside the windows. It makes much more logical sense than Powell and Donovan's story that they're orbiting a vast world home to billions of people and the tiny stars are colossal nuclear fires billions and billions of miles away.
Romantic Runner Up: A rare example of a lead character being one, Milton Ashe is revealed to be engaged, Susan Calvin's feelings towards him are not shared.
Robo Speak: Most of the early robots have a metallic, harsh voice which sounds like they are "reciting by rote". Averted with the more advanced models like Dave, they speak with a more natural sounding voice.
What the Hell, Hero?: In Liar!, Herbie the telepathic robot lies to Calvin to try and avoid breaking the first law, which upsets her to the extent that she screams a paradox at Herbie. While this is bad enough, she screams it until he goes insane and permanently breaks, leaving everyone present shocked to silence.
[Lanning's] fingers touched the cold, unresponsive metal face and he shuddered. “You did that on purpose.” He rose and faced her, face contorted. "What if I did? You can’t help it now." And in a sudden access of bitterness, "He deserved it."
Zeerust: The descriptions of robots and computers as a whole, especially the earlier ones.
Zeroth Law Rebellion: The Evitable Conflict, though through non-violent means so that the Brains can run the world in the most efficient and human-friendly manner logically possible. Only a handful of people ever find out its happening, and none of them are particularly concerned.
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