The Story of the Robot Who Lost His Arm
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That's no small thing, children, to lose an arm. After all, it can't happen to you. Trueโyou might lose your pencil case or your slippers or maybe your keys, or your snack, which isn't great, but it's still not an arm! When a pencil case is lostโmaybe Mom scolds you, but they'll just buy a new one. The world won't end. But can you imagine losing your arm? Going through the world just like that, without an armโthat would be truly infuriating. You wouldn't be able to tie your shoelaces! Or spread butter on your bread, if you know how to do that already. Well, having two arms is a huge advantage!
So, you can probably imagine how our robot felt when he realized he'd forgotten his metallic, robotic limb somewhere. His right arm! And that saddened him! He wanted to put his head in his hands and lament, just like people do, but he couldn't do it perfectly because he was missing one arm. So, he simply shook his metallic, robotic head in disappointment and decided he had to find out where he lost his arm. There was no other way. A one-armed robot is like a car without an engine!
Our robot didn't live on Earth, like we do, but on a planet called Strawberry Planet. It was called Strawberry Planet because only strawberries grew there. And our robot's job was to collect them. But that was very difficult with only one hand. Our robot, whose name was Robbick, collected strawberries by holding the basket with one hand and placing the picked strawberries into it with the other. As you can see, children, he really had no choice but to find his lost arm quickly. The threat was that if he didn't find the arm, they would switch him off!
People would switch him off, and when you switch a robot off, he becomes inanimate, and Robbick certainly didn't want that. Would you want someone to switch you off? Certainly not!
So, he sat down on a rock and began to remember. Where could he have left his arm? He remembered he had recently been in for an oil change, so he quickly ran to the oil depot, but alas. He hadn't left his arm at the oil depot.
Robbick wasn't discouraged.
He sat on the rock again and started thinking about all the other places he had been. It occurred to him that he had recently stopped by the paint shop. He had his big iron plate on his back repainted. The sun had faded the color a little. So, he hurried to the paint shop, but alas. As he found out, he hadn't left his arm at the paint shop either. So, he sat down on the rock and began to think again about all the other places he had been.
It occurred to him that he had also stopped by the screw shop. A few screws needed replacing. So, he hurried to the screw shop to see if his lost arm was lying there, but alas. He hadn't left his arm at the screw shop either. So, he sat down on the rock and pondered where else he had been.
It occurred to him that he had also stopped by the electrotechnicians. He had his chip circuits checked there. So, he hurried to the electrotechnicians, but alas. He didn't find his lost arm there either. Disappointed, he sat down on the rock again and began to ponder deeply where else he had been. He truly couldn't think of many places, and despair and sadness fell upon him.
"I will never find my lost arm. What a disaster, what a predicament," he lamented, when one of the engineer gentlemen, whose job it was to look after the robots on Strawberry Planet, walked by.
The engineer, seeing how sad the robot was, stopped and said: "What's wrong, Robbick? Ohhh... I see you don't have an arm? How is that possible???"
Robbick's electronic eyes lit up: "Mister Engineer, I lost it somewhere and I don't know where," the robot said in a disappointed, robotic voice.
The engineer scratched his head and said: "Then why don't you go to the factory for a new one? They'll make you a new arm at the factory and you'll be a whole robot again. You'll be able to pick strawberries again."
The robot's electronic eyes shone so brightly that he nearly ran down the battery he had to charge every day.
"Yes! That's it! I'll go to the factory and they'll make me a new arm!" Robbick cheered.
The engineer smiled: "Exactly!"
The robot thanked him and hurried to the factory, where they immediately made him a new arm. So, everything ended well. And what lesson can we learn from this, children???
It's a good idea, when we lose something or don't know what to doโto ask someone. Maybe an adult, Mom, Dad, or an older brother or sister. Then we have a greater chance of solving our problem, just like our robot Robbick.
Because a very old and proven rule applies, which you can, to remember it well, perhaps write nicely in color on a card and hang it above your bed.
The rule is:
Two heads are better than one!
And that is the happy ending to our story.
