[i, dork]

i'm reading i, robot and love it but one of the chapters did not wrap up as cleanly as i wanted it to and in true book dork fashion, it's driving me nuts.

At the end of the Little Lost Robot chapter Dr. Calvin figures out how to identify the lost robot based on his training and that robot's ability to differentiate between different types of radiation. That part is clear. The part that confuses me was that I couldn't remember it ever being established that that one robot was the only one trained and the only one to have that ability.

I understand that this is a very specific (and very dorky) question but it's driving me crazy.

thanks,
sb

[This message has been edited by i, dork (edited September 21, 2001).]
[MOD EDIT to solve 'Asimov-issues' - Hobbit]

[Rob B]

Closed, moved to Science Fiction for obvious reasons.

[Shehzad]

(Pulls out old copy of I, Robot and thumbs through it)

Hang on, I'll get back to you after reading it again - after all its been a while since I last read this book!

[blahginger]

If I remember correctly, the lost robot was hiding in a group of robots that had recently arrived at the location. The knowledge of radiation was something that a robot could only have after being at the location for some length of time. They were not shipped with the knowledge because of the top secret nature of the project (?)

[Shehzad]

OK - just re-read the story - here goes:

The robots - the Nestors - were programmed with the capacity to detect and identify radiation, but their knowledge of which particular radiation was being used was not inherent. Instead they were taught how to use their existing capability to identify the radiation on-site.

The modified Nestor had this training, the others didn't. They saw the radiation and assumed it to be Gamma-rays, since they didn't know better. The mod-Nestor had had the training and reacted acordingly. Simple!

[Shehzad]

It seems to have happened again: someone comes in, posts a question and then disappears. He/she doesn't even bother to say thank you or follow up on the message.

Dennizm had a big blow-up on this a little while back, and I'm in danger of following suit.

[Erebus]

Hmmm...you may be right,Shehzad, the user name hasn't popped up anywhere else yet.

Are you still with us, i, dork?

(Perhaps the answer lies in the user name?) http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Shehzad]

He may be a dork, but there ARE Polite dorks in the world too...

[Rob B]

It really irks the crap out of me too. At least FlaggSlayer hasn't popped in.

[Shehzad]

I mean I had to dig out my old copy of I, Robot and read the relevent story carefully. A simple thanks would have sufficed.

A chilling thought FF: what if it was FlaggSlayer undercover?