Robot with free will gets activated and walks out

[Ronuco]

I read the beginning of a book many years ago and would like to figure out what book it was and finish it. The book was written before 1983, possibly many years before that. I read it no later than that. It was about a robot that had been built by a guy that gave it free will. When he activated the robot, it walked out and began exploring the world. It had a sort of face but it was described as being representative of an abstract face, not a copy of a human face. The robot liked this. Where a human would have genitals, the robot had a squarish box. At one point, there was a kind of vaguely erotic scene where the robot was being bathed by 3 girls. But, the robot was not a sexual creature and was not aroused or anything. He was more or less observing coldly. At least to the point that I got in the book, the robot seemed to be emotionless and detached. That's about all I remember.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I wonder if this might be John Sladek's Roderick (1980) and/or its sequel Roderick at Random (1983), later published in one volume as The Complete Roderick. Do you remember the tone of the novel being satiric? If so, this may be it.

 

[JunkMonkey]

My first thought as well. But, even if it isn't, anything by John Sladek is well worth a read.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Can't think of the book but it sounds a lot like some of Asimov's robot novels and stories.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[mellotronman]

Sounds like the 'Roderick' books to me, too, but nothing like any of Asimov's.

 

[Richiehead]

Sounds a bit like "Soul of the Robot" by Barrington J Bayley

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Actually I was thinking that it ran along the lines of The Bicentennial Man though the details don't match. But he did a lot of shorter fiction in the same vein.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Angreal28]

Almost sounds like iRobot but probably not what you're after!

 

[Ray McCarthy]

It's not I, Robot or The Bicentennial Man
I could be mistaken, but I don't think it's Asimov.

 

[hardsciencefanagain]

Not Bailey's The Soul of a Robot?

 

[tinkerdan]

The Soul of the Robot: The Soul of the Robot Book 1 by Barrington J. Bayley

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GVFQV3S/?tag=brite-21

There's a sample to read but it does sound like it.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GVFQUPM/?tag=brite-21
Two book series