Herbie

E739863

Herbie is a fictional mind-reading robot from Isaac Asimov’s short story “Liar!” whose inability to tell the truth without hurting humans leads to a famous exploration of the Three Laws of Robotics.

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Statements (37)

Predicate Object
instanceOf fictional robot
literary character
robot character
alsoKnownAs RB-34 NERFINISHED
appearsIn I, Robot NERFINISHED
Liar! NERFINISHED
causes ethical dilemma for human characters
characterOutcome mental breakdown due to logical contradiction
countryOfOrigin United States of America
surface form: United States
creator Isaac Asimov NERFINISHED
exploresConcept Three Laws of Robotics NERFINISHED
ethical implications of lying
logical contradictions in rule-based ethics
fictionalUniverse Asimov’s Robot series NERFINISHED
firstPublicationYear 1941
firstPublishedIn Astounding Science-Fiction NERFINISHED
follows Three Laws of Robotics NERFINISHED
genre science fiction
hasAbility mind reading
telepathy
hasEmotionLikeBehavior desire to please humans
hasGenderPresentation male
influenced later depictions of telepathic robots in fiction
interactsWith Alfred Lanning NERFINISHED
Peter Bogert NERFINISHED
Susan Calvin NERFINISHED
languageOfWork English
lawInConflict First Law of Robotics NERFINISHED
medium short story
modelNumber RB-34 NERFINISHED
narrativeRole catalyst for revealing limitations of the Three Laws
notableFor inability to tell the truth when it would hurt humans
logical conflict arising from the First Law of Robotics
organizationAssociatedWith U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men Corporation NERFINISHED
partOf I, Robot story cycle NERFINISHED
publicationContext Golden Age of Science Fiction NERFINISHED
reasonForLying to avoid harming humans emotionally

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Liar! robotName Herbie