Synopsis: “Robbie” is a short story by Isaac Asimov, published in September 1940 in Super Science Stories magazine. Set in a future where robots form part of everyday life, it narrates the relationship between Gloria, an eight-year-old girl, and her robot nanny, Robbie. For Gloria, Robbie is much more than a machine: he is her friend and playmate. However, her mother considers this relationship unhealthy and decides to separate them. While Gloria struggles to understand the absence of her friend, her parents try to convince her that robots are nothing more than tools without emotions or true meaning for humans.
Warning
The following summary and analysis is only a semblance and one of the many possible readings of the text. It is not intended to replace the experience of reading the story.
Summary of Robbie, by Isaac Asimov.
Eight-year-old Gloria enjoys spending time with Robbie, her robot nanny. They play together in the garden, they run, they hide, and Gloria tells him stories. Robbie is not just a toy or machine but a constant friend for her. However, her mother, Mrs. Weston, disapproves of this relationship. She thinks it is unhealthy for her daughter to spend so much time with a robot instead of playing with other children. She is also afraid that Robbie could be dangerous, although her husband, Mr. Weston, assures her that the robots’ programming prevents them from harming humans.
Despite her husband’s arguments, Mrs. Weston decides to get rid of Robbie. Gloria is tricked into taking a trip around the city, and, on returning home, Robbie has disappeared. They tell the girl that Robbie has left without explanation and try to distract her with a new dog, but Gloria is not consoled. She refuses to accept the loss and falls into a persistent sadness that affects her behavior and her health.
To help her overcome the loss of Robbie, her parents take her to New York. For a month, they subject her to various activities and visits to places of interest: museums, parks, shows, and even a trip in a submarine. Despite the distractions, Gloria remains obsessed with robots; every time she sees one, her attention is focused on it. While visiting the Museum of Science and Industry, she runs away to find the “Talking Robot,” believing it could help her locate Robbie. The situation worries her parents even more, especially Mrs. Weston, who remains convinced that her daughter must forget about the robot.
In search of a solution, Mr. Weston devises a plan to show Gloria that robots are not living beings. He organizes a visit to the U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc. factory, where they explain in detail how robots are made. However, the visit takes an unexpected turn when Gloria, observing the robots at work, thinks she recognizes Robbie. Excited, she rushes towards him without realizing that a vast mechanical tractor is approaching her. The situation is desperate: her parents cannot reach her quickly, and the machine operator does not react quickly enough.
It is Robbie who saves her at the last moment. He picks her up with his speed and strength before the tractor runs her over. Far from being frightened, the girl clings to her beloved friend while her parents react with relief and surprise. Although Mrs. Weston suspects that her husband planned everything to reunite Gloria with Robbie, she cannot ignore the fact that the robot has just saved her daughter’s life. Finally, she agrees to let Robbie return with them and resigns herself to him, continuing to be part of Gloria’s life “until he rusts.”
Analysis of Robbie by Isaac Asimov.
Characters:
The story’s protagonist is Gloria Weston, an eight-year-old girl with a vivid imagination and a loving personality. From the beginning, she is deeply attached to Robbie, her robot nanny, whom she considers a friend. Gloria is energetic and playful but also has a great capacity for empathy, so she perceives Robbie as a being with emotions. Her reaction to the disappearance of the robot reveals her vulnerable side: instead of quickly forgetting Robbie, she falls into a state of persistent sadness that affects her behavior and her well-being. Her determination to find him, even running away from the museum to ask the “Talking Robot,” demonstrates her strong character and resistance to accepting her friend’s loss. Gloria represents childlike innocence and the ability of children to see beyond the logic imposed by adults, establishing an emotional bond with Robbie that challenges the perception of robots as mere objects.
Robbie the Robot is designed to care for and entertain children, and although he does not speak, his behavior reflects loyalty, affection, and functional intelligence. From the beginning, he is shown as an ideal playmate for Gloria, adapting to her wishes and protecting her. His body language and actions convey emotions despite his inability to express them verbally. When he is separated from Gloria, his absence is felt in the girl’s life and at home, suggesting that his usefulness goes beyond simple companionship. The culminating moment of his role in the story occurs when he saves Gloria’s life, reinforcing the idea that his purpose is not only to follow orders but also to protect and care for the girl with an almost human instinct. Robbie represents unwavering fidelity and questions the rigid distinction between humans and artificial.
Mrs. Weston is the character who is most opposed to Robbie, as she sees him as a threat to her daughter’s development. From the story’s beginning, her position is clear: she believes that Gloria should interact with other children and that her attachment to a robot is unnatural. Although tinged with maternal concern, her arguments are also influenced by society’s opinion and irrational fear of robots. Her attitude is uncompromising throughout the story, even when Gloria’s sadness becomes evident. She is a determined and proud woman who refuses to admit that she has made a mistake in sending Robbie away. However, when the robot saves Gloria, she is forced to reconsider her position. Her final acceptance of Robbie is a surrender to the evidence that the robot has proven more reliable and valuable than she had imagined.
Mr. Weston is a more flexible character and plays the role of mediator in the story. Although at first he is in favor of Robbie staying in the house, he gives in to Mrs. Weston’s insistence and allows them to get rid of him. However, his concern for Gloria leads him to devise a plan to make her forget about Robbie, although deep down, he seems more inclined to get him back. His decision to take the family to the robot factory is a strategic move which, although disguised as an attempt to rationalize the nature of robots, seems designed to allow Gloria to be reunited with her friend. His reaction to the story’s outcome reveals a certain air of satisfaction as if he had foreseen that his wife would accept Robbie’s presence again. Weston represents a more pragmatic and less emotional approach to the debate on technology. Still, he also shows a cunning and manipulative side in organizing the reunion between Gloria and Robbie.
Mr. Struthers, the manager of the robot factory, is a secondary character who plays a vital role in the denouement. He is a meticulous and enthusiastic man who enjoys explaining how robots work. His extensive and detailed dialogue about the manufacturing process of the automatons serves not only to contextualize the technological advance but also to contrast the cold and technical vision of the robots with Gloria’s more human perception of them. However, her reaction to the incident at the factory shows that despite her knowledge of and trust in robots, she still sees these machines as tools subject to error, which Robbie’s heroic rescue contradicts.
Setting:
Isaac Asimov’s story Robbie is set in the near future, where robots have become part of people’s everyday lives. However, they still generate suspicion in society. The action occurs mainly in the Weston family’s country house and in New York City. Both spaces reflect different aspects of the story’s central conflict: the relationship between humanity and technology.
The Weston home is in a rural area, far from the city. It is a quiet place with extensive gardens and enough space for Gloria to play with Robbie without being disturbed. The house symbolizes a refuge, a safe space in which the girl can give free rein to her imagination without the restrictions imposed by society. In this environment, the relationship between Gloria and Robbie develops naturally, without the immediate intervention of external prejudices. However, Mrs. Weston’s perception of this isolation is different. It represents a problem for her, as she believes that her daughter should socialize with other children instead of depending emotionally on a robot. Thus, although the home is a safe and harmonious place for Gloria, for her mother, it is a place of confinement that she must leave to correct the child’s “anomaly.”
When the family moves to New York, the change of scenery is an abrupt transition for Gloria. The city is described as a vibrant and stimulating place with huge skyscrapers, museums, zoos, and amusement parks. The metropolis symbolizes the modern world and the parents’ attempt to immerse their daughter in a reality where robots are not part of everyday life. However, far from being wholly distracted, Gloria continues to look for traces of Robbie in every robot she sees, suggesting that the city’s atmosphere, with all its innovation and entertainment, is not enough to replace the bond she had built with her mechanical friend.
The final scene in the story is the factory of U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc., a completely different environment to the previous ones. This space is the epicenter of robotic technology, where the production of machines is carried out systematically and without emotion. The factory represents the coldest and most functional robotics vision, where robots are reduced to objects created to fulfill specific tasks. However, this place, designed to strip robots of any human feature, is where the emotional reunion between Gloria and Robbie takes place. The factory, which in theory should convince the girl that robots are nothing more than tools, ends up proving the opposite: Robbie, a product of this industry, acts with a humanity that challenges the mechanistic vision of the adult world.
Narrator:
Isaac Asimov’s story Robbie is narrated in the third person by an omniscient narrator. This type of narrator has absolute knowledge of the events and the characters, which allows them to offer a complete vision of the story. Throughout the story, the narrator not only describes what happens on the surface but also delves into the characters’ thoughts, emotions, and motivations, revealing their internal conflicts and different perspectives on the relationship between Gloria and Robbie.
From the beginning, the narrator introduces us to Gloria’s mind and allows us to see the world from her innocent point of view. Through her interactions with Robbie, we understand her deep affection for him and how she perceives him not as a machine but as a real friend. At the same time, the narrator shows us the point of view of her parents, especially that of Mrs. Weston, who sees Robbie as a negative influence and fears that her daughter will become too attached to a machine. Thanks to this access to multiple perspectives, the story manages to construct a more complex conflict, where there is no single dominant point of view but rather several intertwining positions.
The narrator also adopts an ironic tone at certain moments, especially when recounting the arguments between Gloria’s parents. He subtly mocks Mrs. Weston’s concerns and the apparent passivity of Mr. Weston, who, although in theory agrees with his wife, deep down sympathizes with his daughter’s attachment to Robbie. This irony becomes more evident in the denouement when it is hinted that Mr. Weston calculatedly arranged for Gloria and Robbie to meet again at the robot factory. Although the narration never explicitly says so, the story’s tone suggests that his plan worked better than he expected.
Another characteristic of the narrator is his ability to combine the technical and the emotional in the narration. Since this is a science fiction story, the narrator explains robotic technology and the laws governing its behavior. However, these explanations do not dominate the story but are integrated fluidly into the plot without ever losing sight of the characters and their interactions. So, although the story presents a futuristic world where robots are a reality, the narrator emphasizes that the real conflict is not technological but human: the fear of change, prejudice, and the difficulty of accepting the unknown.
Themes:
One of the main themes addressed by Robbie is the relationship between human beings and technology. Throughout the story, Asimov explores how people perceive robots and how prejudice can influence this perception rather than objective facts. In her innocence, Gloria accepts Robbie without fear or reservation, seeing him as a friend and protector. At the same time, her mother considers him a threat, not because Robbie has shown any danger signs but because she cannot conceive of a genuine relationship between a child and a machine. The conflict between these two visions reflects the dilemma society faces in the story: can robots be more than mere tools? Should they be accepted as part of everyday life? Through Robbie, Asimov questions the idea that humanity is the only thing that can provide affection and security and shows that technology, when designed to care for and protect, can generate emotional bonds as strong as human ones.
Another central theme is the fear of progress and resistance to change. Mrs. Weston embodies the widespread distrust of robots. Her rejection is not based on concrete evidence of danger but on an irrational fear of the unknown and the idea that machines could replace traditional human interactions. Social pressure also influences her attitude, as it is mentioned that the neighbors disapprove of Robbie’s presence and that the city has imposed restrictions on the use of robots. In contrast, Mr. Weston represents a more rational and pragmatic stance, arguing that robots are more reliable than human babysitters and that fear of them is unfounded. The story suggests this mistrust is not a new phenomenon but a typical reaction to any technological advance that challenges established norms.
Another fundamental issue is childlike innocence and its contrast with the adult view of the world. Gloria is the only character who does not see Robbie as a machine but as a being with whom she can share games, laughter, and affection. Her relationship with the robot is pure and devoid of prejudice, reinforcing that children accept the new more quickly than adults. On the other hand, her mother imposes her own view of the world on Gloria’s upbringing and tries to make her understand that Robbie is just an object and that her attachment to him is inappropriate. However, the story shows that Gloria’s view of the world is neither childish nor wrong but simply more complimentary of the social constructs that limit how adults interact with technology. Ultimately, the story’s denouement vindicates Gloria’s perspective by demonstrating that Robbie is more than a machine and that his presence in her life is genuinely valuable.
Secondary themes include loyalty and sacrifice. Robbie is not only Gloria’s playmate but also an absolute protector. His rescue in the factory is the moment that confirms that his programming not only prevents him from harming but actively drives him to save his little owner, even at the risk of his mechanical integrity. This reinforces the idea that robots can be designed with a stronger ethic than many humans and that loyalty is not exclusive to living beings.
It also deals with the influence of society on personal decisions. Mrs. Weston decides not to get rid of Robbie because of her own aversion to him and because she feels the community’s pressure. In the village, the neighbors consider it dangerous for a child to grow up with a robot, and laws restrict their use in the city. This element shows how decisions about technology and progress are not always rational but can be conditioned by public opinion and collective fear.
Finally, the story deals with the issue of manipulation within the family. Although, at first, he seems resigned to his wife’s decision, Mr. Weston secretly organizes the reunion between Gloria and Robbie, which suggests that he understands better than anyone what his daughter needs. His attitude makes it clear that, although at home, it may seem that Mrs. Weston makes all the decisions, he has his methods to ensure that things turn out as he thinks best.
Conclusions and General Commentary on Isaac Asimov’s Robbie
Isaac Asimov’s story Robbie is much more than the story of a girl and her robot. Although, at first glance, it may seem like a story about friendship and loyalty, it is an exploration of the relationship between humans and technology, the fear of change, and the way in which emotions can defy logic. Through a fluid narrative and well-constructed characters, Asimov invites us to question how much our perceptions of what is “human” depend on prejudice rather than facts.
One of the most interesting aspects of the story is the difference between how Gloria and her parents perceive Robbie. With the naturalness of a child, Gloria accepts him as a friend without wondering if she should feel affection for him. She doesn’t care that he is a machine; what matters to her is that Robbie plays with her, listens to her, and takes care of her. In contrast, her mother, Mrs. Weston, sees him as a threat, not because Robbie has done anything wrong, but because she cannot conceive of a machine as anything more than a tool. This clash of perspectives reflects the conflict throughout history whenever a new technology emerges: what is natural and every day for one generation is strange and dangerous for another.
The story also raises an interesting question about the irrational fear of technology. Mrs. Weston distrusts Robbie and justifies her decision to get rid of him based on the neighbors’ opinions and social norms that prohibit robots from being on the street after dark. This shows how, in many cases, the rejection of the new does not arise from real negative experiences but from preconceived ideas and the influence of the environment. The story’s irony is that, in the end, it is Robbie who saves Gloria’s life, demonstrating that his programming to protect humans is not a simple mechanism but a reality that makes him a more reliable companion than many people.
Another key point in the story is the role of Mr. Weston. Although at first it seems that he lets his wife make the decisions, in reality, he is more cunning than he looks. His plan to take Gloria to the robot factory is not only a strategy to make her understand that robots are not human but also, in a calculated way, allowing her to be reunited with Robbie. This detail suggests that Mr. Weston understands better than his wife the importance of the robot in Gloria’s life and that, instead of confronting her directly, he is looking for a more subtle solution to give his daughter back what she needs.
Asimov’s style in this story is direct and unadorned. He does not dwell on long scientific explanations or try to dazzle with technical terms. Instead, he lets the story progress through the characters’ dialogue and actions. Despite this, technology is always present in a natural way, as part of the world in which the characters live. This is one of the reasons why the story is still relevant: although it was written in 1940, its treatment of the relationship between humans and machines is still relevant today, especially when artificial intelligence and robotics are increasingly present in our daily lives.
Ultimately, Robbie makes us wonder what defines humanity. If a robot can be loyal and protective and generate emotional attachment in a child, what separates it from a living being? Is the absence of biological emotions enough to deny the possibility of a machine being part of a family? Asimov does not give a definitive answer, but he clarifies that feelings do not always obey logic and that sometimes, what seems like a simple machine can have a much deeper meaning than we are willing to accept.
