Three Years On

There was a clatter as Unit 17 (Billy) fell to the floor of the playroom. Immediately, all his klaxons went off and he clutched at his left knee, where an indicator light flashed urgently.

Corvin rushed to soothe him. "There, there," he said, patting the tiny robot on the back. "Come on, now. Not so bad. Just a skinned knee, all right?"

Billy played sniffles2.mp3 and gathered himself back up.

"You know," said the Dean, "when you told us you had AI that perfectly mimicked the course of human development..."

"In some cases, it's even slightly behind," Corvin confirmed, beaming.