Isaac Asimov's

Robots, Empire, & Foundation Series

A Chronology By Chronos the Cat

Table of Contents
Introductory Notes
Main Timeline
Appendix A: Possible Non-Continuity Robot Stories
Appendix B: Definite Non-Continuity Robot Stories
Appendix C: Timeline for "Feminine Intuition"

Introductory Notes

Note 1: While Asimov himself listed the full-length novels in his Robots/Empire/Foundation series, he never (to my knowledge) confirmed a final list of "Robot" short-stories that connect with the larger series.

A careful examination of the details of stories featuring "The Three Laws of Robotics" and/or the employees of US Robots reveals that not all such stories are consistent with one another. I have listed only those stories consistent with the over-all whole.

Note 2: Following the example of The Star Trek Chronology, I have chosen to interpret obviously rounded-off dates ("one hundred years ago") as if they were literally accurate, for the sake of having dates to list.

Main Timeline

c. 1980 - The "last" World War ends.

(According to the framing in I, Robot, the last World War ended "just before" Susan Calvin was born.)

1982 - Susan Calvin is born. United States Robot and Mechanical Men Inc. (AKA "US Robots") is incorporated.

(From the Introduction to I, Robot.)

1996 - "Robbie" is built and sold.

1998 -- "Robbie" (I, Robot)

2002 - The first talking, mobile robot is developed.

(From the Introduction to I, Robot.)

2003 - Most nations of the world ban robots for purposes other than scientific research.

Susan Calvin receives her Bachelor's Degree.

(From the Introduction to I, Robot.)

2005 - The first Mercury Expedition reaches Mercury and sets up base, but is shortly abandoned. Several robots are left behind.

(Backstory to "Runaround")

2007 - US Robots hits it's financial low point.

Some nations relax their stance on robots.

(From the framing for I, Robot.)

2008 - Susan Calvin receives her Ph.D. and joins US Robots.

(From the Introduction to I, Robot. Note; later in the framing Susan claimed to have joined in 2007 - however given that she was speaking purely from memory, and that the Introduction is from the POV of a reporter, I'm more inclined to trust the Intro's date. Incidentally, in the same framing scene, she implied the First Mercury Expedition took place after 2007, contradicting the text of "Runaround". Apparently, she was having a Senior Moment...)

2015 - "Runaround" (I, Robot) - The Second Mercury Expedition.

- "Reason" (I, Robot) - Six months after "Runaround".

2016 - "Catch the Rabbit" (I, Robot) - Six months after "Reason".

2021 - "Liar!" (I, Robot)

- "Lenny" (Robot Visions)

(After "Liar!". Presumably prior to the stories set in 2029 as Alfred Lanning is referred to as Research Director - however this is not certain, as he is sometimes still referred to that way after his stepping down. Prior to Susan Calvin's retirement.)

- Prior to 2029: Alfred Lanning is made Director-Emeritus with Dr. Peter Bogert as acting Director.

(From the background to "Escape!" (I, Robot))

2029 - "Little Lost Robot" (I, Robot)

- "Escape!" (I, Robot) - The Hyperdrive is invented.

2032 - "Evidence" (I, Robot)

2033-2034 - "Galley Slave (Robot Visions)

2037 - Stephan Byerley becomes Regional Coordinator of the Northern Region (North America above the Rio Grande & the former Soviet Union).

(Framing to I, Robot.)

2044 - The Regions of Earth formed their Federation. Stephan Byerley becomes the first World's Coordinator.

(Framing to I, Robot.)

2052 - "The Evitable Conflict" (I, Robot) - By this time, Lanning and Bogert are dead, and Dr. Vincent Silver is Director of Research. (Evitable Conflict background.)

- "Robot Dreams" (Robot Dreams) - Prior to Susan's retirement, but she is described as "old". Dr. Linda Rash has recently been hired as a new robopsychologist. Exact placement of the story uncertain.

2057 - Susan Calvin retires from US Robots. She is interviewed by a reporter from Interplanetary Press.

(Interview seen in the Introduction and chapter dividers of I, Robot.)

(2061 - If "Feminine Intuition" were to be placed into the main chronology, it would occur here. Mentioned as it does include characters from the main chronology. See Appendix B and Appendix C.)

2064 - Susan Calvin dies. The reporter who interviewed her after her retirement publishes that interview as I, Robot.

(Death from the Epilogue to I, Robot; the rest is implied.)

21xx (The Twenty-Second Century) - "Too Bad" (Robot Visions) - (Nothing in particular connects this "Robot" story to the main continuity, but nothing goes against it either. A "World Charter" is mentioned, but whether this is meant to imply it is set on another planet, or is merely some aspect of Earth government is unknown and mostly irrelevant.)

???? - The Great Rebellion. The colony worlds gain their independence.

(Sometime between the time of Susan Calvin and the Earth/Spacer Wars. Presumably before the colonies became known as the Outer Worlds; alternately this could be the cause of the adoption of said name.)

c. 3321: By this point the colony planets are known collectively as The Outer Worlds. Earth population hits Eight Billion, and is there more-or-less halted. The first Cities (enclosed mega-complexes housing ten to twenty million people each) begin to be built. (A thousand years before New York fully becomes a City.)

c. 4321: The city of New York fully becomes a "City". (Three hundred years before The Caves of Steel.)

c. 4371: The last colonization of a world by another Outer World prior to 4621 occurs. (250 years before The Caves of Steel.)

c. 4521: The Wars between Earth and the Spacers (the interstellar human colonists). (100 years before "Caves of Steel" .)

c. 4596: The Spacers conquer Earth. Spacetown is built on the outskirts of New York City. (25 years before "Caves of Steel" .)

4602, December: Elijah Baley meets Jessie Navodny at the Section Christmas Party. (Back in '02, according to Caves of Steel. Century & millennium based on the comment that New York is three thousand years old.)

4603: Elijah Baley and Jezebel "Jessie" Navodny are wed. (Caves of Steel does not indicate an especially long courtship for the two. Eighteen years before Caves of Steel.)

4605: Bently Baley is born. (16 years before The Caves of Steel.)

4621: The Caves of Steel

(Roughly three thousand years after the foundation of the settlement (New Amsterdam / New York) that eventually became the City of New York. Adjusted from 4624 to fit with Elijah and Jessie meeting in '02, the assumption of a courtship of less than a year, and the story being 18 years after their marriage.)

The Naked Sun

"Mirror Image" (Robot Visons)

Robots of Dawn

Robots & Empire

The Currents of Space

The Stars, Like Dust

Pebble in the Sky

Prelude to Foundation

Forward the Foundation

Foundation

Foundation and Empire

Second Foundation

Foundation's Edge

Foundation and Earth

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Appendix A: "Robot" Stories that may or may-not be part of the ongoing "Robot" Continuity (And why they might or might-not be part of continuity.)

- "Bicentennial Man" (original version - Robot Visions) - Earliest points occur during the re-introduction of robots to Earth, at which point they begin to be used as household servants. The world here is far closer to ours than to Caves of Steel, meaning that if it were part of the main timeline robots would have to be expelled from Earth again at some point after this story.

- "Light Verse" (Robot Dreams) - Set in a world where robots are servants. Has US Robots, but obviously is a later era than Susan Calvin's day. Possibly in the same version of Earth seen in Bicentennial Man.

- "Christmas Without Rodney" (Robot Visions) - Set in a time an place where robots often serve people as household servants. In this culture robots are given names starting with "R" (and not as a single stand-alone letter as seen in Cave of Steel). Theoretically it could be set on a human & robot colonized planet not seen in other stories.

Appendix B: Non-Continuity "Robot" Stories

(And why they aren't part of continuity.)

"Sally" (Robot Dreams) - While dealing with computers with bodies, this story does not involve humanoid robots; furthermore there is no reference to any of the elements of the "Robots" series.

"Robot Visons" (Robot Visions) - This story involves robots, but it also involves a future quite inconsistent with that of the "Robots" series.

"Feminine Intuition" (Robot Visons) - While this story includes Susan Calvin and US Robots, it is inconsistent with many details from I, Robot. Among them: I, Robot has Susan's retirement covered by the news, while in this story it was kept from the public. "Escape!" implies that "successful" use of Hyperdrive will soon become public knowledge, and the framing in I, Robot has humans colonies on extra-solar planets prior to Susan's retirement - but in this story they have yet to even go public about the Jump technology five years after her retirement. "The Evitable Conflict" has Peter Bogert dying prior to Susan's retirement, while this story has him still Director of Research after her retirement.

"Someday" (Robot Visions) - A story with a very different type of "Robot", set in a very different future.

"Think!" (Robot Visions) - While Asimov lists it in the introduction to "Robot Visions" as a "Robot Story" it in fact involves computers, not robots, and bears no obvious connection to the "Robot" Series.

"Segragationist" (Robot Visions) - A story dealing with not only robots but cyborgs. The social trends seen in it could be considered an extension of events in "Bicentenial Man", but lead in a direction inconsistent with The Caves of Steel.

Appendix C: Timeline for "Feminine Intuition"

(Year number based on the assumption Susan Calvin retired in the same year mentioned in I, Robot.)

2051? - Ten years before the story: Clinton Maderian joins US Robots.

2057? - Five years before the story: Susan Calvin retires. Clinton Maderian takes her place as the corporation's chief Robopsychologist.

2061? - The story takes place.