Robot classes

Robot classes organize Zile City's inhabitants according to their designed functions and cognitive capabilities. The system shapes work and expectations about what a robot can understand or decide, without explaining every individual life.

Humanlike robots are called androids. Betas and Gammas have humanlike designs; that appearance does not establish consciousness or erase differences between their roles.

Everyday roles

Epsilons perform basic tasks. The agricultural m00 is an example, consuming vegetation and depositing charged batteries. Maintaining Epsilons is part of the work assigned to Gammas.

Deltas are prominent in heavy industry, including refineries and smelteries. Their machinery and work belong to the city's large-scale physical infrastructure.

Gammas carry out practical maintenance work without the ordinary self-awareness associated with the sentient classes. Roger's earlier work involves repairing and redeploying other machines. His unusual awareness is an exception to the expectations attached to his original class.

Betas are specialists, including scientists, engineers, designers and security personnel. Their expertise differs: being a Beta does not give each person every scientific or practical ability. Weyland can rebuild bodies and coordinate technical work without fully explaining Roger's consciousness.

Alphas are the city's creators and occupy a secluded central sector. Their designs are not limited to one body shape.

Classification and place

The city's sectors carry names associated with its classes, but a robot's class is not simply the district where it is encountered. A specialist can work or shelter in another sector.

The proposed consciousness scale adds cognitive ratings to the classification. Its measurement method remains partly ambiguous, reflecting the speculative nature of consciousness; the treatment of exceptional cases remains in development. Practical skill, self-awareness, emotional understanding and judgment remain distinct questions; a class label cannot resolve all of them.