Assignment 3: Runaround

Due: 8:10am, Monday, November 16. Value: 60 pts.

Read the short story Runaround from I, Robot, then write an essay responding to the below prompt. The essay should be approximately 2–4 double-spaced pages, though it may be shorter or longer as long as you answer the questions fully. The essay should fluently integrate answers to the questions into one coherent whole response, and it should be able to stand on its own without reference to the assignment. Please include page numbers for any citations of the source story.

In the story, the robot sent to fetch the selenium is not working according to its programming, as far as Donovan and Powell can tell. Carefully consider how they go about figuring out why the robot is malfunctioning. Then consider two experiences you have had this semester in which you had to find and fix errors in your own robot programs. Describe each of your two episodes and the process you used to find errors each time, describe the process that Donovan and Powell used, and compare and contrast the processes.