The word "robot" comes from Karel Capek's play "R.U.R.," where it refers to automatic laborers of organic origin (i.e., androids). However, the notion of "robot" that exists in the popular consciousness today is due in large part to the writings of Isaac Asimov. Before the short stories that were eventually collected as in this "I, Robot" volume robot stories in Science Fiction pulp magazines in the Frankenstein mode or as ways of delineating the differences between humans and machines. But Asimov reset the genre with his Three Laws of Robotics, and while his work is more recognizable in the positonic brain of Data on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," it is the Three Laws that are much more important.

The stories that followed explored the logical and narrative possibilities inherent in the apparent contradiction of the Three Laws. The ethical question of whether robots are "human" is not central to these stories; they are clearly machines, but they are so inherently ethical that it is hard not to see some sort of superiority to their existence. After all, their prime directive of preserving of human life and limb in ingrained in their positronic brains; most human beings do not have that stricture any where near being firmly entrenched in their cognitive structures.

Rather than following the order in which Asimov originally wrote them, the "I, Robot" stories are arranged in a "chronological" order that traces the development of these robots from their primitive origins to their evolutionary destiny where human beings may well end up being rendered obsolete. Asimov explores the possibilities of his three laws to present us robots that have gone insane, robots that can read minds, and robots that save humanity by taking over to run the world. If you are reading these stories for the second time, which is a fair possibility given that they are Science Fiction classics, then you should pay attention to the subtle differences between the Donovan & Powell stories with those featuring Susan Calvin; it basically comes down to whether Asimov wants to explain things in term of a dialogue or a lecture.

Once you have read "I, Robot" be sure to check out the brilliant unproduced screenplay Harlan Ellison wrote from these stories which has been published along with the Asimov robot novels, "The Caves of Steel," "The Naked Sun," and "Robots of Dawn." Ultimately these stories fit into Asimov's other series, including the Foundation novels, but you do not have to go that far. The important thing is that after you have read this collection of short stories you will understand why fans of Asimov were rolling their eyes at the recent Will Smith movie version of "I, Robot" (to be fair, the movie works as a later Robot story, but as an introduction to the masses to the Three Laws of Robotics it is a miscalculation).