From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
R. Daneel Olivaw is a fictional robot created by Isaac Asimov. He appears in the Asimov's Robot/Foundation Series, most notably in the novels The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, The Robots of Dawn, ''Robots and Empire, Prelude to Foundation and Foundation and Earth.
Daneel is a robot constructed by Spacers from planet Aurora to be indistinguishable from a human being (see android). This enables him to help earth-policeman Elijah Baley to solve crimes. (Daneel and Baley first meet while Baley is investigating the murder of Roj Nemennuh Sarton, the human from whom Daneel is indistinguishable.)
Daneel and Baley also worked together on a murder case on Spacer planet Solaria, and on a case of 'robocide' of Daneel's 'brother', Jander Panell, on Aurora, where he also first meets R. Giskard Reventlov, a robot with unique telepathic powers. Giskard and Daneel invented the Zeroth Law of Robotics, which proved destructive to his positronic brain, as he violated the First Law. Giskard bestowed his abilities to Daneel, who over the course of 20,000 years has adapted to be able to fully obey the Zeroth Law.
For that time, Daneel has manipulated the galaxy with the help of his many robot allies. He set up both the Galactic Empire and Gaia in order to create a society that did not need robots. Under the guise of Eto Demerzel, he became the first minister to galactic Emperor Cleon I, and under the guises of both Chetter Hummin and Eto Demerzel guided Hari Seldon so that he would develop psychohistory, to eventually reveal his true identity to Seldon. He would appear again briefly in the epilogue to Forward the Foundation, which says he was one of the few in attendance at Hari Seldon's funeral.
R. Daneel Olivaw appeared once again in Foundation and Earth, where Golan Trevize and Janov Pelorat from the Foundation eventually find the radioactive Earth, and Daneel's base on the moon, and learn about his paternalistic manipulations, including causing of the settlement of Alpha Centauri, the creation of Gaia, and psychohistory. Ultimately, Daneel convinces Trevize that the creation of Galaxia is the correct choice.
