<P> I, Robot was released in North America on July 16, 2004, in Australia on July 22, 2004, in the United Kingdom on August 6, 2004 and in other countries between July 2004 to October 2004 . Produced with a budget of $120 million, the film grossed $144 million domestically and $202 million in foreign markets for a worldwide total of $346 million . It received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for the visual effects and acting but criticism of the plot . At the 77th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Visual Effects . </P> <P> In the year 2035, humanoid robots serve humanity, which is protected by the Three Laws of Robotics . Del Spooner, a Chicago police detective, hates and distrusts robots because he was rescued from a car crash by a robot using cold logic (his survival was statistically more likely), leaving a 12 - year - old girl to drown . Spooner's critical injuries were repaired with a cybernetic left arm, lung, and ribs, personally implanted by the co-founder of U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men (USR), Dr. Alfred Lanning . </P> <P> When Lanning falls to his death from his office window, the CEO and other co-founder of USR Lawrence Robertson, and the police declare it a suicide, but Spooner is skeptical . Spooner and robopsychologist Susan Calvin consult USR's central artificial intelligence computer, VIKI (Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence), to review security footage of Lanning's fall . Though the video is corrupted, they learn that no other humans were in Lanning's office at the time, but Spooner points out that only a robot could have broken Lanning's heavy office window . </P> <P> Calvin protests about how a robot could not have killed Lanning, as the Three Laws would prevent it; they are then attacked in the office by an NS - 5 robot, USR's latest model . After the police apprehend it, they discover the robot, who says that it's name is Sonny, is not an assembly line - built NS - 5, but was specially built by Lanning himself, with stronger armor protection and a secondary system that bypasses the Three Laws . Sonny also claims to have emotions and dreams . </P>

What does viki stand for in i robot