This foundational adult science fiction series explores a future in which robots have become an essential part of human civilization, governed by the famous Three Laws of Robotics — and follows the philosophical and detective-story implications of those laws as they are tested in increasingly complex situations. The series is the origin of much of modern science fiction's thinking about artificial intelligence and robot ethics, and connects to the author's larger Foundation universe.
In a future New York where Earth's billions live in vast enclosed city-complexes and resent the robot-dependent Spacers who live in luxury off-world, detective Elijah Baley is assigned to investigate a murder alongside a humanoid robot partner he deeply mistrusts. The novel is a tightly plotted science fiction mystery that uses its genre framework to examine human prejudice, fear of change, and the nature of humanity. A clever and propulsive genre hybrid.