Robopsychology

Robopsychology is the study of the personalities of intelligent machines. The term was coined by Isaac Asimov in the short stories collected in I, Robot, which featured robopsychologist Dr. Susan Calvin,^[1] and whose plots largely revolved around the protagonist solving problems connected with intelligent robot behaviour.

The stories also introduced Asimov's famous Three Laws of Robotics. Another robopsychologist mentioned by name is Clinton Madarian, who is introduced as being Susan Calvin's successor in the story "Feminine Intuition".

As described by Asimov, robopsychology appears to be a mixture of detailed mathematical analysis and traditional psychology, applied to robots. Human psychology is also a part, covering human interaction with robots. This includes the "Frankenstein complex" – the irrational fear that robots (or other creations) will turn on their creator.

See also

• Cybernetics
• Human-robot interaction
• Psychohistory

References