Foundational Irony
The narrative structure of the novel is constructed upon a foundation of irony. The framework for relating the events which occur over the course of the novel is situated upon the discovery of an archive created by the robots. Ironically, this archive is essentially a chronological timeline of human heroism demonstrated in the war conducted against the robots.
Predictable Irony
When it comes to almost every story of the rise of the machines, there is an element that is both very predictable yet necessarily ironic. The rise of the robots occurs directly as the result of human genius verging just slightly enough into the domain of mad scientist for everything to go all Jurassic Park. The creator of what is already the most sophisticated artificial intelligence program in history just has to see how much more he can push things. And so, with predictable irony, it is really the hubris of humanity that is really responsible for the robot's rise to supremacy.
The Evil Doll
There is an evil doll in the story. The doll is not really evil, of course, but it does have just enough robotic machinery to allow the robot mastermind unintentionally unleashed on the world by the computer genius to take control and instruct it to attack its young owner. The irony is that the actual name of the doll is Baby-Comes-Alive.
The Japanese Sexbot
By now, we've all seen those robot personal companions that the best and brightest minds in the world of Japanese artificial intelligence have directed their talents toward perfecting. It is, of course, a bit unfair to dismissively label these miracles of modern technology "sexbots" but then again: have you seen them? There is a Japanese-built robot female companion that a genuinely brilliant Japanese man calls his wife in the novel. The irony is that rather going for a mass-market twenty-something Sailor Moon lookalike, this elderly man has a custom-built robot designed to look more appropriately like what his term for the machine: wife.
The Unspoken Irony
The overarching irony which is not directly addressed but allowed to simmer beneath the events is that humans are themselves responsible for the rising power of robot technology even in the here and now. One element which makes it so easy for the robots to subjugate humanity is that we are all so willing to hand over control of things to artificial intelligence even when there is no need. It is one thing to connect your computer to intricate network of servers that make up the internet, but why willingly hand over the power to control your refrigerator, oven, lighting, garage door, and home security to machines located who knows where which are subject to who knows what external interference? The real irony of the robopocalypse is that humanity is gleefully surrendering before the war even starts.
