People have been writing about robots for a long time and fans of Science Fiction will instantly know what I’m talking about if I mention Isaac Asimov and his three laws of Robotics.

Twenty years ago I couldn’t have asked those of you who are not fans of Science Fiction to write a robot story unless you were writing about heavy industry.

Ten years ago, you could have written about the Mars rover or those funnily little circular robots that were starting to sweep our floors (and sweep for mines in the military).

Today you could write a story about your grandmother, being brought her medicine and being entertained by her own robot butler and only be on the edges of speculative fiction, according to this report from the BBC: Robot Designed To Care For The Elderly.

Reading this article gave me the strongest sense that I was living in an Asimov story (or very shortly might be)

The Prompt

Write a story featuring one of the everyday robotic technologies available to us today

Tips

You can make it, like early sci-fi, an exploration of humanity’s relationship with machines and what that means. Or you can simply use the robot as a primary or secondary character.

Perhaps your robots are sentient but it would be also interesting to see how living with highly-efficient, highly-programmed machines that are NOT sentient affects your characters’ actions.

Some of the robots available in day to day life today (or soon) include the Roomba(af), Lawnbot(af), Lego Mindstorms(af), robots for cleaning your pool(af), welding robots (my grandfather used to do this job!), Automated Guided Vehicles that carry goods around warehouses and hospitals[1. “(af)” denotes an affiliate link.].

The Rules:

• You should use the prompt in your story (however tenuous the connection).
• You must write the story in one 24 hr period – the faster the better.
• Post the story in the comments — if you’re brave enough.
• Find something nice to say about someone else’s story and leave a comment. Everybody needs a little support!

Optional Extras:

Share this challenge on Twitter or Facebook

Some tweets/updates you might use:

Don’t miss my short story: Everyday Robots #WriteOnWed #storyaday  https://storyaday.org/wow-robot

This week’s #WriteOnWed short story prompt is Everyday Robot! #storyaday  https://storyaday.org/wow-robot

Come and write with us! #WriteOnWed #storyaday  https://storyaday.org/wow-robot

See my story – and write your own, today: Everyday Robots at #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/wow-robot

If you would like to be the Guest Prompter, click here.