<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

The Robots of Dawn
Author	Isaac Asimov
Publisher	Doubleday
Publication Date	1983
Country	United States
Genre(s)	science fiction
ISBN	ISBN 0-385-18400-X
Related	Caves of Steel Naked Sun Robots and Empire

The Robots of Dawn is the third book in the robot-mystery series of novels by Isaac Asimov, after The Caves of Steel (1954) and The Naked Sun (1957). Asimov published this new novel in 1983, after 26 years away from the series, and his intention was not just to turn the set into a trilogy, but also to connect the robot mysteries to his other great science fiction series, Foundation.

Plot

The story takes place about two years after the events described in The Naked Sun. This time, Elijah Baley is summoned from Earth to the planet Aurora (a name that means “dawn,” hence the title) to solve what is not really a crime: the destruction, or murder, of a robot. The victim was a humaniform robot, one made entirely in the form of a human being, and except for R. Daneel Olivaw, the only one in existence. Though not a crime per se, the roboticide has serious political implications for the galaxy, for on Aurora a political battle has been waging over the settlement of the galaxy. Some centuries earlier, humans had settled the fifty worlds, and then thrown off Earth rule, and essentially turned Earth into a third-world planet. Now the fifty Spacer worlds, led by Aurora, are contemplating the settlement of the entire galaxy, and the question is who will do it. One faction on Aurora, the globalists, wants that settlement to be conducted only by Aurorans and for Aurorans, since they regard Earth as a dangerous and backward planet that would contaminate the universe, and spread Earth ways so wide that the Spacer worlds would become extinct. This is because Spacer worlds have devised the secret to long life; Spacer people live to be centuries old, while Earthers, with their short lives, are more energetic and more determined to get things done quickly, in the short time they have available to them. Further, the globalists want to send out humaniform robots to lead the initial explorations of these new worlds, which is their great problem, since only one man has the knowledge to build humaniform robots, and he is opposed to the globalists.

That man is Dr. Han Fastolfe (whom we last saw in Spacetown in The Caves of Steel), the creator of R. Daneel Olivaw and the dead humaniform robot, Jander. Fastolf believes that only Earthers should be allowed to settle the galaxy, because he thinks that Spacer culture is decadent. More important, he fears that if humaniform robots, or robots of any kind, are the vanguard of the settlement movement, they will settle and create worlds to humaniform robot specifications, not to Spacer, or even human, specifications. And Spacer dependence on robots and on their robotic culture will continue unchecked. For these reasons, Fastolfe refuses to tell anyone his secrets for building humaniform robots. But all of this also means that only Fastolfe has the technical knowledge to disable and destroy a humaniform robot; everyone, including Fastolfe, admits this, though he pleads his innocence of the roboticide crime. The globalists try to spread the story that Fastolfe destroyed Jander to discredit the very notion of humaniforms, and the position he is in also puts Fastolfe’s political position in jeopardy; if Fastolfe cannot clear his name, the globalists will win the political battle, and Earthers will be confined to their own planet forever.

Living near Dr. Fastolfe is Gladia Delmarre, the same woman whose husband was murdered on Solaria, triggering the events described in The Naked Sun For a time, after arriving on Aurora, Gladia was unhappy. Then Dr. Fastolfe sent the humaniform robot Jander to live with her as her servant. They soon become lovers, and she was so satisfied with him in that capacity that she came to think of Jander as her husband, which was considered a bizarre action on any world. It was while living in Gladia’s house that Jander was immobilized, in that his positronic pathways were messed up to the point where he became inoperable—in effect, he was killed. Baley investigates the murder with the aid of his old partner, R. Daneel Olivaw, who, as a native of Aurora is an enormous asset; they are joined, in this investigation, by a more conventional looking robot named Giskard, loaned to him by Fastolfe. Baley’s investigation focuses on Gremionis, a hairdresser who had been making sexual advances to Gladia (casual sex is common on Aurora), but who was spurned constantly; Vasilia, daughter of Fastolfe; and Dr. Amadiro, leader of the globalist party, and a roboticist dedicated to finding the secret to building humaniform robots.

Eventually Baley is able to muster enough evidence to discredit the globalist leader, Dr. Amadiro, even though he eventually admits that Amadiro was not the one to destroy Jander. In the book’s final pages he reveals that the mechanical-looking robot, Giskard, is the killer. It seems that years earlier, Fastolfe’s daughter had reprogrammed Giskard, inadvertently making him psychic. Giskard then used his psychic abilities to fulfill the Three Laws of Robotics; he disabled the humaniform robot Jander to prevent Dr. Amadiro from learning too much about how Jander was built, believing, as Fastolfe did, that the settlement of the galaxy must be carried out by humans from Earth, and not by robots.

Related Works

This was the last of the robot mystery novels to feature Elijah Baley. However, the next book in the sequence, Robots and Empire (1985), prominently features Gladia Delmarre, R. Daneel Olivaw, and Giskard. This book contains a handful of allusions to the stories in I, Robot, and on two occasions (pages 108 and 223), Dr. Fastolfe reveals that he has come up with an incipient version of psychohistory, which serves as the basis for the Foundation series of novels.