Satisfaction Guaranteed (short story)
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"Satisfaction Guaranteed" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov, first published in the April 1951 issue of Amazing Stories. It appears in the collections Earth Is Room Enough, The Rest of the Robots, and The Complete Robot.
Plot summary
Robot TN-3, called Tony, is a humanoid household robot placed with Claire Belmont as an experiment by US Robots. Claire, reluctant to accept him, has low self-esteem.
Tony redecorates her house and gives her a make-over, then pretends to be her lover, letting neighbors see him kiss her. Claire falls in love with Tony and becomes depressed when he is taken back to the lab. US Robots plans to redesign the TN-3 models, but robopsychologist Susan Calvin dissents, noting women may fall in love with robots.
Did You Know?
- The story was adapted as an episode of the BBC television series Out of the Unknown, with Wendy Craig as Claire; the complete episode is lost, though a 2m 27s extract, audio extracts and off-screen photographs exist.
- In 2002, the story was adapted for the BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play slot.
More in Robot Series Short Stories by Isaac Asimov
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Satisfaction Guaranteed (short story) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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