engineering

Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mr. Robot rather than just read about it. In short: Mr. Robot is an American psychological techno-thriller television series created by Sam Esmail for USA Network.

Key takeaways

Mr. Robot belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mr. Robot to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mr. Robot from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mr. Robot is an American psychological techno-thriller television series created by Sam Esmail for USA Network. It stars Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, clinical depression, and dissociative identity disorder. Elliot is recruited by an insurrectionary anarchist known as "Mr. Robot", played by Christian Slater, to join a group of hacktivists called "fsociety". The group aims to destroy all debt records by encrypting the financial data of E Corp, the largest conglomerate in the world. The pilot premiered online and via video on demand services on May 27, 2015. In addition to Malek and Slater, the series stars an ensemble cast featuring Carly Chaikin, Portia Doubleday, Martin Wallström, Michael Cristofer, Stephanie Corneliussen, Grace Gummer, BD Wong, Bobby Cannavale, Elliot Villar, and Ashlie Atkinson. The first season debuted on USA Network on June 24, 2015; the second season premiered on July 13, 2016; and the third season premiered on October 11, 2017. The fourth and final season premiered on October 6, 2019, and concluded on December 22, 2019. Mr. Robot received critical acclaim, particularly for the performances of Malek and Slater, its story and visual presentation and Mac Quayle's musical score. The series has gained a cult following. Esmail has received praise for his direction of the series, having directed three episodes in the first season before serving as the sole director for the remainder of the show. The show received numerous accolades, including two Golden Globe Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Peabody Award.

Premise

The series follows Elliot Alderson, a young man living in New York City, who works at the cybersecurity company Allsafe as a cybersecurity engineer. Constantly struggling with social anxiety, dissociative identity disorder, clinical depression and drug abuse, Elliot's thought process seems heavily influenced by paranoia and delusion. He connects with people by hacking them, which often leads him to act as a cyber-vigilante. He is recruited by a mysterious insurrectionary anarchist known as Mr. Robot and joins his team of hacktivists known as fsociety. One of their primary missions is to cancel all consumer debt by encrypting all the data of one of the largest corporations in the world, E Corp (which Elliot perceives as Evil Corp), which also happens to be Allsafe's biggest client. The series is described as a techno-thriller and psychological thriller.

Episodes

Cast and characters

Main Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a senior cybersecurity engineer at Allsafe Cybersecurity and a vigilante hacker. He has dissociative identity disorder and deals with other mental illnesses such as clinical depression and severe anxiety, which are partly responsible for his antisocial behavior and drug use. Elliot's hacker nickname is "Sam Sepiol" or "samsepi0l". Elliot as a child is portrayed by Aidan Liebman (seasons 1–2), Alex Bento (season 3), and Evan Whitten (season 4). Carly Chaikin as Darlene Alderson, Elliot's younger sister, a malware coder and one of the fsociety hackers. Portia Doubleday as Angela Moss, Elliot's childhood friend and a fellow employee at Allsafe and later a PR Manager for E Corp. Mabel Tyler portrays a young Angela. Martin Wallström as Tyrell Wellick, originally the ambitious Senior Vice President of Technology at E Corp and later part of fsociety. Christian Slater as Mr. Robot, an insurrectionary anarchist who recruits Elliot into an underground hacker group called fsociety and Edward Alderson, Elliot's father. Michael Cristofer as Phillip Price, the CEO of E Corp (seasons 2–4; recurring season 1). Stephanie Corneliussen as Joanna Wellick, Tyrell's wife (seasons 2–3; recurring season 1). Grace Gummer as Dominique "Dom" DiPierro, an FBI field agent investigating the E Corp hack (seasons 2–4). BD Wong as Whiterose, a trans woman, cyber-terrorist and leader of the Dark Army who is also China's Minister of State Security under her birth name, Zhi Zhang (seasons 3–4; recurring seasons 1–2). A younger version of Whiterose was portrayed by Ross Kurt Le (season 4). Bobby Cannavale as Irving, a car salesman who is a Dark Army fixer (season 3; guest season 4). Elliot Villar as Fernando Vera, Shayla's drug supplier and Elliot's only supply of suboxone who has a unique dangerous philosophy and is obsessed with Shayla and later Elliot (season 4; recurring season 1; guest season 3). Ashlie Atkinson as Janice, a chatty taxidermist and a Dark Army fixer with a peculiar sense of humor (season 4).

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mr. Robot

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mr. Robot claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mr. Robot before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mr. Robot ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mr. Robot

In research: Mr. Robot appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mr. Robot in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mr. Robot is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2010s American LGBTQ-related drama television series, 2010s American drama television series, 2015 American television series debuts, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mr. Robot outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Mr. Robot” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Mr. Robot in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mr. Robot means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mr. Robot out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mr. Robot in simple terms?

Mr. Robot is an American psychological techno-thriller television series created by Sam Esmail for USA Network.

Why does Mr. Robot matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mr. Robot?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mr. Robot.