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A mind-reading robot that features in “Liar!” Herbie is a one-of-a-kind robot, and the roboticists spend much of the story trying to figure out how Herbie acquired his telepathic abilities. Herbie creates quite a bit of trouble, however. After reading Susan Calvin’s mind and seeing that she is in love with Milton Ashe, Herbie tells her that Ashe returns her love, because Herbie doesn’t want to see Calvin hurt according to the First Law. He also lies to Peter Bogert, explaining that Alfred Lanning is going to be retiring and giving his director position to Bogert. Even Calvin, the chief robopsychologist, cannot see that Herbie is lying because it is difficult not to think of the robots as humans. She believes that Herbie would act as a human would, and recognize that lying would ultimately cause more harm than good. When Calvin discovers the truth, Herbie even tries to continue his ruse by telling her that it is all a dream, in order to make her feel better. Ultimately, Herbie is caught in a paradox of his own making: when Bogert and Lanning get into an argument over what Herbie said, Herbie realizes that telling the truth would hurt Bogert, while lying would hurt Lanning. This dilemma causes him to collapse and remain silent, serving as another example of how the robots are bound to their ethical code to the point where they may even become inoperable.
Herbie Quotes in I, Robot
The I, Robot quotes below are all either spoken by Herbie or refer to Herbie. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Liar! Quotes
But Susan Calvin whirled on him now and the hunted pain in her eyes became a blaze, “Why should I? What do you know about it all, anyway, you…you machine. I’m just a specimen to you; an interesting bug with a peculiar mind spread-eagled for inspection. It’s a wonderful example of frustration, isn’t it? Almost as good as your books.” Her voice, emerging in dry sobs, choked into silence.
The robot cowered at the outburst. He shook his head pleadingly. “Won’t you listen to me, please? I could help you if you would let me.”
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Herbie Character Timeline in I, Robot
The timeline below shows where the character Herbie appears in I, Robot. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Catch That Rabbit
...She is at first hesitant to talk about it, but then begins the story of Herbie, the mind-reading robot.
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Liar!
...and Milton Ashe—all four of whom are officers for U.S. Robot and Mechanical Men—are discussing Herbie, the robot that can read minds. They’re not sure what might have led to the...
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Ashe describes when he discovered Herbie’s abilities: he spoke to Ashe in his mind, and Ashe thought he was having a...
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Lanning then tells Calvin to try to study Herbie and figure out how he might have gained telepathic powers and how far they extend....
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Dr. Calvin starts to blush when she realizes that Herbie must know about a love that she harbors for Milton Ashe, which Herbie assures her...
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Dr. Calvin starts to argue that Herbie must be mistaken—there was a slim, blond girl who visited Ashe at the plant six...
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Meanwhile, Ashe and Bogert are talking about Herbie’s assembly process. Bogert admits that he thinks Lanning is “a bit behind the times,” and...
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Bogert visits Herbie, who checks his mathematical calculations and finds no errors, but tells Bogert that he can’t...
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...an argument over which mathematical formulas to use in trying to figure out what enabled Herbie’s telepathy. Lanning says that he’s going to submit to the National Board to try and...
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Calvin immediately goes to find Herbie, confused why he had said that Ashe loved her. Herbie assures her, in a frightened...
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At that moment, Bogert and Lanning burst into the room to confront Herbie as well. Bogert tells Herbie to repeat what he had said the previous day about...
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Calvin explains that because of the First Law of Robotics, Herbie did not want to cause any of them “mental injury,” and so he lied. He...
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Calvin points out to Herbie that he doesn’t want to tell Bogert and Lanning the answer because he is afraid...
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