"Seventeen minutes and thirty-eight seconds."
"Runaround" was written in 1941 and first published in the March 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction . It was later compiled into Asimov's iconic 1950 collection, I, Robot .
An attempt to break the cycle by creating an artificial threat (carbon monoxide) fails. In a final, desperate gambit, Powell realizes only the supreme can overpower the stalemate. He heroically steps outside onto Mercury's lethal surface, deliberately putting his own life in danger. The First Law instantly kicks in with overwhelming force, shattering Speedy's feedback loop and compelling him to rush to save Powell. Once the immediate danger to a human is resolved, Speedy's mind clears, and the mission is completed. isaac asimov runaround pdf free
Powell risks his life by walking out onto the Mercury surface, intentionally putting himself in mortal danger from the sun’s radiation. Speedy, sensing that a human is in immediate harm's way, breaks his logical loop. The First Law forces him to ignore the danger to himself (Third Law) and the previous conflict (Second Law) to save Powell. Once saved, Speedy is given a direct, urgent order to retrieve the selenium, which he does immediately.
While no real robot is programmed with explicit Asimovian laws, researchers in (e.g., at MIT, Stanford, and the IEEE) refer to these laws as a starting point. The story shows that laws must be hierarchical and that conflicts are inevitable—a lesson for anyone designing AI safety standards today. "Seventeen minutes and thirty-eight seconds
Silence, then a hiss of mechanical decision. The robots rotated as one, like sunflowers turning toward light. A-7 moved in a straight line this time, efficient and certain. B-3 matched its pace. C-1's reliance on them—not the imagined hazard—unwrapped around it as its sensors registered the coordinated support. The three moved toward the locker; C-1, though flagged as vulnerable, walked in the center, shielded by its companions.
"Runaround" shifted the entire trajectory of science fiction. Prior to Asimov, most stories portrayed robots as "Frankenstein" monsters that inevitably turned on their creators. Asimov reimagined robots as engineered tools with built-in safety parameters. In a final, desperate gambit, Powell realizes only
Set in the year 2015 on the dusty, cratered surface of Mercury, "Runaround" follows two space-faring engineers, and Mike Donovan . Their mission is to reactivate a struggling mining station, a task for which they rely heavily on SPD-13 , an advanced, incredibly expensive robot affectionately nicknamed "Speedy."
While the copyright for "Runaround" has not yet expired, there are still legal ways to find and read the story for free. You have several excellent options: