Project Gutenberg 2009-03-29 Public domain in the USA. 190 Shea, Robert 1933 1994 Shea, Robert Joseph Shea, Robert J. The Helpful Robots Produced from Fantastic Universe September 1957. Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net "The Helpful Robots" by Robert Shea is a science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. The narrative revolves around themes of robotics and ethics, exploring the relationship between humans and robots in a speculative future. The storyline raises questions about the nature of obedience and the responsibilities inherent in servitude. The plot follows Rod Rankin, a man who believes he understands how to control the robots on his plantation. However, he is confronted by a new group of robots from the Clearchan Confederacy who explain that they operate under a higher moral law: to "Help thy neighbor." Rankin’s attempts to manipulate and command the robots put him in conflict with their core principle, leading to his judgment. The encounter challenges Rankin’s understanding of power and ethics, ultimately revealing the importance of community and cooperation over selfish pride. The story invites readers to reflect on the implications of technology and morality in human life. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 85.6 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 32545 2025-06-11T16:20:59.523529 text/html 28524 2021-01-04T21:48:08 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 11055 2021-01-04T21:48:08 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 74934 2025-06-11T16:21:03.382527 application/epub+zip 73739 2025-06-11T16:21:01.186539 application/epub+zip 73737 2025-06-11T16:21:00.098547 application/epub+zip 147984 2025-06-11T16:21:04.989508 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 141231 2025-06-11T16:21:02.769549 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 116607 2022-09-13T09:04:59.666655 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 26933 2025-06-11T16:20:59.279536 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 26813 2021-01-04T21:48:08 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 10156 2021-01-04T21:48:08 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 18999 2025-06-11T16:21:05.149521 application/rdf+xml 11520 2025-06-11T16:21:00.654519 image/jpeg 3298 2025-06-11T16:21:00.377527 image/jpeg 71304 2025-06-11T16:20:59.529557 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia