Plot

In the near future, a police officer specializes in malfunctioning robots. When a robot turns out to have been programmed to kill, he begins to uncover a homicidal plot to create killer robots... and his son becomes a target.

In a near future, robots serve men in house-holding services, agriculture, construction, drivers and others services. When there is malfunction that endangers people, the police have a specialized department to resolve the issues. Sgt. Jack Ramsay has just welcomed his new partner Thompson and she needs to go with him in his assignments in the cornfield and in a construction site. When a domestic robot kills a suburban family, Ramsay rescues the baby from the house. When his fellow officer Marvin inspects the machine, he finds an illegal chip installed in the robot. When the electronic engineer Johnson is arrested by Ramsay and Thompson, they are attacked by Luther that uses a state-of-art weapon. Soon they learn that Luther is a dangerous criminal that has developed special chips to be used by terrorists and the police force need to stop him.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

It is 1985. Police Sgt. Jack Ramsay is 35 years old; his records show he was born in 1950. He is a widower and has a 10-year-old son Bobby. He works in a large city which is never specified. Ramsay has a fear of heights, so he asked to be moved to a division called "Runaways" that deals with malfunctioning robots, who have taken over many of the jobs humans once did.

Thompson is Ramsay's new partner. She has tried other jobs, including computer programmer, but none of them worked out. She is pretty but capable.

On their first assignment together, Ramsay and Thompson must take a helicopter to a farm where pest-control robots are out of control. They are able to successfully capture the robots.

On their second assignment, Ramsay and Thompson go to the house of a man named Johnson whose household robot has killed two people. A 10-month-old baby is alone and crying. TV crews are on the scene and Ramsay must discourage them, but one cameraman insists on going inside and gets killed before Ramsay can bring the robot under control. Johnson comes home and is very concerned about the baby but disappears before Ramsay can rescue the baby. A suspicious looking man is watching everything.

Ramsay goes home to Bobby and Lois, the robot who takes care of the house and Bobby. Bobby, who should be in bed, is very excited about what he has just seen happen on TV, and he likes Thompson, who is already showing signs of being a partner to Ramsay in more than one way. Lois makes sure Bobby goes to bed and asks if Thompson needs to be entered into her list of information, which of course she does.

On another day, Ramsay and Thompson go out on another assignment, this one a tall building under construction where a robot is throwing items off the building. Ramsay gives this job to Thompson and he stays on the ground.

Johnson is discovered staying in a hotel room, and Ramsay and Thompson go to pick him up. Johnson fears for his life, with good reason. His company developed a new technology that someone called Dr. Luther wants to use to commit crimes. Just before Ramsay can take Johnson to the station, he takes off running and Ramsay chases him. Dr. Luther joins the chase and starts firing bullets at Johnson, only these are not ordinary bullets. They an go around corners and dodge obstacles and have the ability to track their target. After several attempts, Johnson is killed.

Although it is not Ramsay's department, he continues to investigate the case and discovers Dr. Luther in a room at the Ritz hotel. There is gunfire and several officers are killed. TV crews are there as well. Despite his fear of heights, Ramsay must go to the roof to rescue a girl being held by Dr. Luther. Because of all the chaos and the deaths, and the fact it wasn't his department, Ramsay is reprimanded by his Chief.

There is an incident at the company where Johnson worked, and secretary Jackie is being held prisoner by one of the robots. Ramsay rescues Jackie and destroys the robot in the process, which the security guard says wasn't necessary. Ramsay takes Jackie and offers her protection. She has the templates necessary for the chips needed for Dr. Luther's special bullets, and Dr. Luther still wants them.

This leads to a car chase where special robots that can track Jackie start shooting. Eventually Ramsay and Jackie have to change cars; a robot is driving theirs and Thompson is in the other. As soon as the transfer is made the car they were in is blown up.

At a nice restaurant with outdoor seating Dr. Luther demands Jackie be turned over to him. Jackie leaves part of what he wants behind as insurance, but he kills her when he realizes he doesn't have everything.

Dr. Luther escapes and ends up at Ramsay's precinct dressed as a cop, and no one notices. He has an eyeball which is capable of passing a retinal scan that is required to sign in to Ramsay's computer. Ramsay later sees information about him on the screen, and he knows someone knows where he lives. He goes home and discovers Lois seriously damaged and Bobby missing. After fixing Lois, Ramsay goes to a tall building under construction where Bobby is being held. After going up in the elevator, Ramsay demands Bobby be released and then hands over the templates. Dr. Luthor explains that as soon as Bobby gets off the elevator, robots called spiders will kill him because there can be no witnesses. Thompson has followed Ramsay and rescues Bobby before anything can happen to him, but Ramsay experiences a series of terrifying events before he can successfully trick Dr. Luther into the trap his set for Bobby, leading to Dr. Luther's death.

At the end of the movie it is clear Ramsay and Thompson are romantic partners.