- The unnamed narrator gives us a lot of background info on Susan Calvin, the famous robopsychologist at US Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc. For instance, she was "the first great practitioner of a new science" (Introduction.8) and people think she's cold and robot-like.
- Also, she is now retiring after 50 years at the company. So the narrator interviews her to ask her about her experience with robots.
- And she has a lot to say about robots. For one thing, she says that robots are our loyal companions and that "They're a cleaner better breed than we are" (Introduction.32). So she's going to tell a story about a robot nursemaid from 1998 to demonstrate this.