engineering

Them, Robot

Them, 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 Them, Robot rather than just read about it. In short: "Them, Robot" is the seventeenth episode of the twenty-third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. The episode was directed by Mike Frank Polcino and written by Michael Price.

Key takeaways

Them, 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 Them, Robot to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Them, Robot from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

"Them, Robot" is the seventeenth episode of the twenty-third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. The episode was directed by Mike Frank Polcino and written by Michael Price. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 18, 2012. In this episode, Mr. Burns replaces the power plant workers with robots except for Homer, who gives them personalities, resulting in disaster. Brent Spiner guest stars as the voice of the robots. The episode received mixed reviews. The episode title refers to the 2004 film I, Robot.

Plot After Mr. Burns' lawyer tells him that drug tests for the plant workers are costing him money, Smithers proposes to replace the employees with robots in order to cut costs. Mr. Burns fires all of his employees, but Smithers insists that Burns retain one human worker to perform maintenance and to serve as a possible scapegoat. Homer becomes the lucky employee, after bursting into Burns' office to thank him for years of service and to criticize him for being cruel to his fellow man. With everyone else at the plant out of work (including Smithers), the town suffers from a 99% unemployment rate. Homer tries to socialize with the robots, only to be electrically shocked by one who does not understand his "Working hard or hardly working?" joke. Homer steals Mr. Burns' robot manual to change the robot workers' personalities and give them human emotions, and to program them to play baseball with him and Bart. During the baseball game, one robot hits the ball out of bounds. Homer runs backwards into the street to catch it, not noticing that there is a truck approaching. A robot saves his life by walking in front of the truck, then several more robots walk onto the road in front of oncoming cars and trucks. At the robot funeral, Homer tries to propose a toast. But one robot states that the Three Laws of Robotics demands that robots must protect humans; because alcohol is bad for human health, the robot takes away Homer's beer. Annoyed by this, Homer borrows Flanders' drill and gives them "robot lobotomies," but this reprograms the robots to "eliminate all impediments to the plant" by killing Homer. Homer runs to Mr. Burns' mansion for help, but Mr. Burns makes things worse by releasing his hounds on the robots. One robot easily flings one of the hounds a great distance. The other hounds retreat in fear. When Mr. Burns insults them, the slighted hounds become angry and join the robots. They chase Burns and Homer, who hide inside Mr. Burns' greenhouse. The robots burst in, but Homer and Mr. Burns are saved by the unemployed citizens of Springfield. Burns rehires his former employees as temps. Homer rebuilds one of the robots and takes it on a fishing trip, but the robot becomes annoyed by Homer and self-destructs.

Production Guest star Brent Spiner provides the voice of all the robots. Spiner knew episode writer Michael Price, and he offered the role to Spiner. He thought voice acting was easy and compared it to "stealing money." "Robot Parade" from No! by They Might Be Giants is played at the end.

Reception The episode originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 18, 2012. It was watched by approximately 5.24 million people during this broadcast, and in the demographic for adults aged 18–49, it received a 2.4 Nielsen rating and a seven percent share. "Them, Robot" became the second highest-rated broadcast in Fox's Animation Domination lineup for the night in terms of both total viewers and adults aged 18–49. Hayden Childs of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B, saying that while "there are a number of good jokes in this installment, the satire is far too gentle, if not feeble, for its subject matter, and the episode is far too willing to bury the satire to further the plot," but that "the episode offers enough good-natured humor to keep itself afloat." Teresa Lopez of TV Fanatic gave the episode 3.5 out of 5 stars. Lopez felt the plot relied heavily on Homer's stupidity. She highlighted the robots' lines during the baseball scene. John Schwarz of Bubbleblabber gave the episode a 9 out of 10 and thought that the episode was a "sterling effort." He highlighted several sight gags and the joke that the baseball rules of American League are worse than those of the National League. Steven Keslowitz referred to this episode as an example of popular culture warning of the dangers of automation.

References

External links

"Them, Robot" at IMDb "Them, Robot" Archived 2018-12-29 at the Wayback Machine at theSimpson.com

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Them, Robot

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Them, 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 Them, 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 Them, 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 Them, Robot

In research: Them, 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 Them, 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: Them, Robot is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2012 American television episodes, Television episodes about robots, Television episodes about termination of employment, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Them, 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.

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How to study Them, Robot in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Them, 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 Them, Robot out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Them, Robot in simple terms?

Why does Them, 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 Them, 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 Them, Robot.