I, Robot: Little Lost Robot Summary & Analysis

The reporter waits two days before interviewing Calvin again. He asks to hear more stories about robots and interstellar travel. She starts to narrate her first experience with interstellar travel, in 2029, when a robot had been lost. Because of this, all work on the Hyperatomic Drive came to a halt, and no one was allowed to enter or leave that area of space except for Calvin and Bogert, who were brought in on a special government patrol ship.

During Calvin’s first dinner at the Hyper Base, Major-general Kallner, who is heading the project, explains what the issue is: they have 63 robots on one ship that look identical, but one of them is different in another way. Bogert, who knew about the alteration, ultimately confesses that the “lost” robot has been programmed with a weakened First Law of Robotics because of the kind of work that they need some of the robots to do. Kallner is desperate that a robot with a weakened First Law not be discovered.

Calvin asks why they modified the robot. Kallner tells her that their men work with radiation, but precautions are taken to protect them. However, it is impossible to explain that the men are safe to the robots, who believe that if they do not try to protect the men, they will come to harm through inaction. Thus, when the men expose themselves to radiation, the nearest robot tries to drag the men out, and the radiation destroys the robots. And so they kept only the first part of the Law, which reads “No robot may harm a human being.” They are not compelled to act if a human being is in danger.

The next morning, Calvin goes to Bogert and insists that she should have been told about the adjustment. She tells him about the possible pitfalls: the First Law is the only thing that keeps the robots loyal to the humans, and without it, robots could easily enable the death of humans. Bogert says that she’s exhibiting a  “Frankenstein Complex.”

Later in the morning, Calvin has an interview with Gerald Black—the last person to have seen the lost robot, Nestor 10. Calvin asks if there was anything unusual about the robots with the First Law modifications. Black says that they’re only cleverer—they have learned physics from the technicians—and they’re very calm and curious, which sometimes annoys him. When he wants something done quickly, sometimes they take their time.

Bogert asks Black about the morning he last saw Nestor 10. Black admits that he had been frustrated and behind schedule. Nestor 10 was bothering him to repeat an experiment he had abandoned a month ago, and so he told him angrily to “go lose [himself],” along with a series of derogatory remarks. Calvin dismisses Black, thanking him for his cooperation. Calvin then interviews all 63 robots over five hours, and all 63 seem the same to her. She realizes that Nestor 10 is lying because he is obeying the Second Law and trying to fulfill the urgent command that Black set for him.

Calvin worries, however, that Nestor 10 is also trying to prove his superior intellect to the humans by completely stumping them, and again worries that he might want to harm humans. She tells Bogert that a modified robot could drop something heavy above a human, knowing that it could catch the weight before hitting the man. However, once the robot lets go of  the weight, it is no longer an active agent and through inaction could allow the weight to strike.

Calvin and Bogert decide to perform tests directly on the response to the First Law. They drop a weight above a man 10 times in front of each robot (though a laser beam will prevent the weight from actually hitting the man). Each time, every single one of the 63 robots jumps up to save the man. Nestor 10 does so of free will, trying to blend in. Calvin decides they will have to try something else, particularly now that Nestor 10 must be aware that they are trying to conduct experiments to find him and is deliberately lying to them.

Calvin designs another experiment: they will again drop a weight above a man, but there will be electric cables between the man and the robots, which they will tell the robots will electrocute them and cause their deaths (though this won’t actually be true). Normal robots will try to save the man, as the First Law takes precedence over the Third. But for Nestor 10, his desire for self-preservation will cause him to remain in his seat. When they conduct the experiment, however, none of the robots move. Calvin is horrified.

Calvin interviews each robot again, asking to explain what happened. One of them, Number 28, says that if he had died trying to save the man, he wouldn’t have been able to save him anyway. Then the robots would be dead for no purpose, and couldn’t prevent future harm. She asks Number 28 if he thought of this idea himself. He answers no, that the robots were all talking the previous night, and that another robot had the idea. Calvin asks which one, but Number 28 says that he doesn’t know. Kallner is frustrated that Calvin has not found the solution, while Calvin insists that they have to separate the robots from each other or else she will resign and make the matter public.

Calvin gets one last idea, remembering that one additional difference between Nestor 10 and the other robots is that Nestor 10 has learned physics. She and Bogert do another interview, telling the robots that they are going to conduct another experiment with a person in danger. Between the robot and the person will be a gamma ray field, which Bogert tells them will kill them instantly—so it would again be pointless for them to try and save the person.

After the interviews, they begin the experiment, and Calvin insists on being the person that they must try to save so that she can observe the robots directly. The robots are then placed in a circle around her. The weight is dropped, but this time, only a single robot, Nestor 10, jerks upright and takes two steps. Nestor 10 stops dead. Calvin immediately tells all the other robots to leave the room, which they do. Nestor says that it was told to be lost, and that it must obey. He starts to walk toward Calvin and his metal arm flies out toward her. She sinks to the ground under the weight of his arm.

Black bursts into the room and asks if Calvin is hurt. She shakes her head. He pries the arm off of her; Nestor 10 is sprawled next to her. Black explains that they turned on a gamma field when they saw Nestor 10 attack. Calvin admits he wasn’t really attacking her, simply trying to do so.

Calvin has one last meeting with Kallner, insisting that the modified Nestors be destroyed. Kallner agrees, and asks how she discovered him. Calvin explains that they didn’t flood the room with gamma rays, but with infrared rays instead. Only Nestor 10, who had knowledge of physics, knew that the rays were not gamma rays. He thought that all of the other robots would know this as well, and assumed that they would all jump up to save Calvin. He forgot that the other robots might be more ignorant than he was.