Powell and Donovan

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Gregory Powell and Mike Donovan are fictional characters from Isaac Asimov's Robot short stories. They are practical engineers rather than theoretical roboticists, field specialists for US Robots and Mechanical Men, and are employed mainly on testing new or experimental robots in practical situations — either on planets or space stations (robots are banned on Earth). They regularly get into complex and potentially dangerous situations when trying to solve robot issues in the field. The issues typically involve the Three Laws of Robotics. The character Mike Donovan from the TV series V was named after Asimov's character.

They are mainly comical characters, but they also explore the logical contradictions behind some of the applications of the Three Laws of Robotics. Their adventures stand out in stark contrast to the indoor exploits of Susan Calvin, a dour robopsychologist working for the same company. The characters Powell and Donovan appear in Runaround, Reason, Catch that Rabbit and Escape!.

In "The Prophet", an episode of British television series Out of the Unknown based on short story "Reason", Powell was played by David Healy, and Donovan by Brian Davies.