Editing Robots and Empire (section)

{{short description|Science fiction novel by the American author Isaac Asimov}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name         = Robots and Empire
| title_orig   =
| translator   =
| image        = RobotsAndEmpire.jpg
| caption = Cover of first edition (hardcover)
| author       = [[Isaac Asimov]]
| cover_artist = [[Barclay Shaw]]<ref>[http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?28377 Publication Listing]. Isfdb.org. Retrieved on 2013-11-02.</ref>
| country      = United States
| language     = English
| series       = [[Robot series|''Robot'' series]]
| genre        = [[Science fiction]] 
| publisher    = [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday Books]]
| release_date = 20 September 1985
| media_type   = Print (hardback & paperback)
| pages        = 383  
| isbn         = 0-385-19092-1
| dewey= 813/.54 19
| congress= PS3551.S5 R64 1985
| oclc= 11728404
| preceded_by  = [[The Robots of Dawn]]
| followed_by  = [[The Stars, Like Dust]]
}}
'''''Robots and Empire''''' is a [[science fiction]] novel   by the American author [[Isaac Asimov]], published by [[Doubleday Books]] in 1985. It is part of Asimov's [[Robot series|''Robot'' series]], which consists of many [[short story|short stories]] (collected in ''[[I, Robot]]'', ''[[The Rest of the Robots]]'', ''[[The Complete Robot]]'', ''[[Robot Dreams (short story collection)|Robot Dreams]]'', ''[[Robot Visions]]'', and ''[[Gold (Asimov)|Gold]]'') and five novels (including ''[[The Positronic Man]]'', ''[[The Caves of Steel]]'', ''[[The Naked Sun]]'', and ''[[The Robots of Dawn]]'').

''Robots and Empire'' is part of Asimov's consolidation of his three major series of science fiction stories and novels into a single [[future history]]: his ''Robot'' series, his [[Galactic Empire series|''Galactic Empire'' series]] and his [[Foundation (book series)|''Foundation'' series]]. (Asimov also carried out this unification in ''[[Foundation's Edge]]'' and its [[Foundation and Earth|sequel]].)

In the novel, Asimov depicts the transition from his earlier [[Milky Way Galaxy]], inhabited by both human beings and [[positronic robot]]s, to his [[Galactic Empire (Asimov)|Galactic Empire]]. The galaxy of his earlier trilogy of ''Robot'' novels is dominated by the blended human/robotic societies of the fifty "Spacer" planets, dispersed through the near-Earth part of the Galaxy. While the Earth is much more populous than all of the Spacer planets combined, its people are looked down upon and treated almost as sub-human by the Spacers. For a long time, the Spacers have forbidden immigration of people from the Earth. But Asimov's later [[Galactic Empire (Asimov)|Galactic Empire]] is populated by many [[10^24|quadrillions]] of human beings on hundreds of thousands of habitable planets and by very few robots (such as [[R. Daneel Olivaw]]). Even the technology to maintain and upgrade robots exists on only a few out-of-the-way planets. Therefore, this novel attempts to describe how his earlier ''Robot'' series ultimately connects to his ''Galactic Empire'' series.