The society is not entirely comfortable with the use of robots; the machines' humanoid design but complete lack of emotion and body language has given rise to a mental disorder termed Robo-phobia. This is shown as a paranoid delusion that robots are actually the living dead, intent on harming humans. "The Robots of Death" also shows that it is possible to reprogram robots so that they can break the restrictions on harming humans, as robotics genius Taren Capel has discovered in his attempts to free his robot "brothers" from their 'slavery'.