said.
“That wasn’t funny. I’ve had nightmares about robots lately,” she said. She lowered the covers. “How did you do that?”
“I got a text-to-speech device from Oliver.”
Penny’s eyes turned from cross to conspiratorial. “I have an idea.”
She invited Maggie over later that day. Maggie was as much a rival as a friend—she and Penny were always trying to one-up each other. Penny would get a new toy, and Maggie would brag that she had a bigger, better version. Maggie would start reading a thick book, and Penny would get it from the library and race to finish it first.
“Say hello to Maggie, Celeste,” Rocky said.
“Hi, Maggie,” the robot said.
“Hold up some fingers,” Penny told her. “We’re teaching Celeste to count.”
Maggie held up three fingers.
“How many fingers is she holding up?” Penny asked.
“Three,” Celeste answered.
“You got lucky!” said Maggie. “Do it again.”
They played several rounds, Celeste getting the answer right every time—even when Maggie held up two fists. “None,” Celeste answered. It was possible to program a robot to do that, but we’d cheated. Penny just waveda hand in front of one of the sensors whenever Maggie held up fingers. Celeste counted the times Penny waved her hand.
Jim: Everything all right over there?
Oliver: Yeah. Mom is drinking wine and watching rom-coms.
Jim: Ugh.
Oliver: I dunno what the problem is. She’s known P forever. She seems to love him. Why not just marry him?
Jim: Yeah. Nice guy.
Oliver: And he’s loaded.
Jim: You disappointed?
Oliver: Me?
Jim: I dunno. Just wondering. You know, new dad. All that.
Oliver: Wanted it when I was 8-10. Now just want Mom to be happy.
Jim: Sure.
Oliver: Srsly.
Jim: OK. Just wondering.
Oliver: Mom wants me to go watch movie with her. Ttyl.
Jim: Hope it’s nothing too bad.
Oliver: Hugh Grant is in it. I’ll bring my barf bag.
Jim: LOL.
Oliver: When the Whitney Houston CDs come out, I’m moving in with you.
Jim: LOL x 2.
Penny and I spent the next week in a sea of curly brackets and parentheses, programming Polly to sense if an enemy was approaching and to know when her opponent was exposed. I would type up the code while Penny read aloud from the book. She was pretty smart, figuring out stuff right along with me.
What slowed us down was computer time. We could only use the office when Mom and Dad weren’t in there, which was frustrating. I really needed my own computer.
“Is this supposed to be the octopus from the aquarium?” Penny asked the first time she saw the new robot.
“Yeah.” I was glad she recognized it.
“Did you show it to Rocky yet?”
“Not yet,” I told her. “Why?”
“Because. I just wondered.”
She was on to me. I went with the octopus as a message to Rocky. What exactly the message was, I wasn’t sure.
“It’s cool,” said Penny.
“Thanks. Let’s see if it works.”
We plugged in the logic controller so we could test our program.
In a few days, Polly and Celeste could play tag or hide-and-seek. They could even “talk” by flashing colored lightsat each other. Polly would flash a random color, Celeste would sense it and flash back the same color.
“We need to test them in a mock battle,” I suggested.
“Nuh-uh,” said Penny. “I don’t want Celeste to beat up Polly.”
I laughed. Celeste didn’t have any weapons.
“Nobody will hurt anybody,” I told her.
“All right, but I get to stop the fight at any time,” she said.
We cleared a space on the kitchen floor and let them at it. We decided the first robot to tag the other one three times was the winner. Polly could use any of her eight legs to tag Celeste, and Celeste could use any part of her cardboard frame to tag Polly.
The first round went beautifully, Polly dropping and letting Celeste roll over her, just as I’d planned. I’d disabled the jump feature so she wouldn’t send Celeste flying, but the second the cardboard robot was past, Polly
“That wasn’t funny. I’ve had nightmares about robots lately,” she said. She lowered the covers. “How did you do that?”
“I got a text-to-speech device from Oliver.”
Penny’s eyes turned from cross to conspiratorial. “I have an idea.”
She invited Maggie over later that day. Maggie was as much a rival as a friend—she and Penny were always trying to one-up each other. Penny would get a new toy, and Maggie would brag that she had a bigger, better version. Maggie would start reading a thick book, and Penny would get it from the library and race to finish it first.
“Say hello to Maggie, Celeste,” Rocky said.
“Hi, Maggie,” the robot said.
“Hold up some fingers,” Penny told her. “We’re teaching Celeste to count.”
Maggie held up three fingers.
“How many fingers is she holding up?” Penny asked.
“Three,” Celeste answered.
“You got lucky!” said Maggie. “Do it again.”
They played several rounds, Celeste getting the answer right every time—even when Maggie held up two fists. “None,” Celeste answered. It was possible to program a robot to do that, but we’d cheated. Penny just waveda hand in front of one of the sensors whenever Maggie held up fingers. Celeste counted the times Penny waved her hand.
Jim: Everything all right over there?
Oliver: Yeah. Mom is drinking wine and watching rom-coms.
Jim: Ugh.
Oliver: I dunno what the problem is. She’s known P forever. She seems to love him. Why not just marry him?
Jim: Yeah. Nice guy.
Oliver: And he’s loaded.
Jim: You disappointed?
Oliver: Me?
Jim: I dunno. Just wondering. You know, new dad. All that.
Oliver: Wanted it when I was 8-10. Now just want Mom to be happy.
Jim: Sure.
Oliver: Srsly.
Jim: OK. Just wondering.
Oliver: Mom wants me to go watch movie with her. Ttyl.
Jim: Hope it’s nothing too bad.
Oliver: Hugh Grant is in it. I’ll bring my barf bag.
Jim: LOL.
Oliver: When the Whitney Houston CDs come out, I’m moving in with you.
Jim: LOL x 2.
Penny and I spent the next week in a sea of curly brackets and parentheses, programming Polly to sense if an enemy was approaching and to know when her opponent was exposed. I would type up the code while Penny read aloud from the book. She was pretty smart, figuring out stuff right along with me.
What slowed us down was computer time. We could only use the office when Mom and Dad weren’t in there, which was frustrating. I really needed my own computer.
“Is this supposed to be the octopus from the aquarium?” Penny asked the first time she saw the new robot.
“Yeah.” I was glad she recognized it.
“Did you show it to Rocky yet?”
“Not yet,” I told her. “Why?”
“Because. I just wondered.”
She was on to me. I went with the octopus as a message to Rocky. What exactly the message was, I wasn’t sure.
“It’s cool,” said Penny.
“Thanks. Let’s see if it works.”
We plugged in the logic controller so we could test our program.
In a few days, Polly and Celeste could play tag or hide-and-seek. They could even “talk” by flashing colored lightsat each other. Polly would flash a random color, Celeste would sense it and flash back the same color.
“We need to test them in a mock battle,” I suggested.
“Nuh-uh,” said Penny. “I don’t want Celeste to beat up Polly.”
I laughed. Celeste didn’t have any weapons.
“Nobody will hurt anybody,” I told her.
“All right, but I get to stop the fight at any time,” she said.
We cleared a space on the kitchen floor and let them at it. We decided the first robot to tag the other one three times was the winner. Polly could use any of her eight legs to tag Celeste, and Celeste could use any part of her cardboard frame to tag Polly.
The first round went beautifully, Polly dropping and letting Celeste roll over her, just as I’d planned. I’d disabled the jump feature so she wouldn’t send Celeste flying, but the second the cardboard robot was past, Polly
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