Robot AL-76 Goes Astray

"Robot AL-76 Goes Astray" is a humorous science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov, originally published in the February 1942 issue of Amazing Stories and included in the collections The Rest of the Robots (1964) and The Complete Robot (1982). Asimov selected the story for inclusion in the 1949 anthology My Best Science Fiction Story.[1]

"Robot AL-76 Goes Astray"
AuthorIsaac Asimov
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesRobot series
Genre(s)Science fiction
Published inAmazing Stories
Publication typePeriodical
PublisherZiff-Davis
Media typePrint (Magazine, Hardback & Paperback)
Publication dateFebruary 1942
Preceded by"Robbie"
Followed by"First Law"

Plot summary

AL-76 (also known as Al) is a robot designed for mining work on the Moon, but as a result of an accident after leaving the factory of US Robots and Mechanical Men, it gets lost and finds itself in rural Virginia. It cannot comprehend the unfamiliar environment and the people it meets are scared of it. When it comes across a shed full of spare parts and junk, it is moved to reprogram itself and builds a powerful mining tool of the kind it was designed to use on the Moon - but since it does not have the proper parts, it improvises and produces a better model, requiring less power. He then proceeds to disintegrate half of a mountainside with it, in no time at all: much to the alarm of a country "antique dealer" who had hoped to use the lost robot in his business.

When angrily told to destroy the "Disinto" and forget all about it, AL-76 obeys, and the secret of the reprogramming and the improved tool is lost.

gollark: I would prefer something more lightweight anyway for battery life.
gollark: The tweet was asking about RTOSes.
gollark: <@540815739884404736> I don't think it'll run Linux.
gollark: Probably, but not if the display can't update fast enough.
gollark: I like overly precise times.

References
  1. "Why I Selected- Robot AL 76 Goes Astray", My Best Science Fiction Story, Merlin Press, 1949, p.3
Preceded by:
"Robbie"		 Included in:
The Rest of the Robots
The Complete Robot		 Series:
Robot series
Foundation Series		 Followed by:
"First Law"


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