# Identify a kid/YA book about kid getting a robot friend who can’t bend knees? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-kid-ya-book-about-kid-getting-a-robot-friend-who-can-t-bend-knees/623695 "2012-05-31T20:05:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-kid-ya-book-about-kid-getting-a-robot-friend-who-can-t-bend-knees/623695/1 "2012-05-31T20:05:57Z")
Hello. Something just popped into my head out of nowhere, a book (possibly a series of books?) I once checked out from the children’s section of a library. My memory’s too hazy to pin the precise date but, given my blasé approach to age appropriateness, I might’ve been anywhere from six to nine — so likely between 1987 and ’90. But maybe later or, hell, earlier, if it was more like a children’s storybook than I remember. The plot involved a boy who received a sentient/strong-AI companion robot, a human facsimile accurate except for being unable to bend at the knees. The robot _might_ have been a gift to help him cope with losing a family member, and I seem to recall the protagonist taking time to warm up to the robot but eventually accepting him as a friend. Not a whole lot of detail, sorry. Does this ring a bell? Google searches haven’t turned up anything for me. There’s also a nonzero probability that my mind is playing tricks on me, and I’m misremembering some pastiche of another book or movie or something. Edit: On re-read, it sounds suspiciously like Bradbury’s _I Sing the Body Electric_ except with a brother instead of a grandmother. But I’m almost certain that’s not it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-kid-ya-book-about-kid-getting-a-robot-friend-who-can-t-bend-knees/623695/2 "2012-05-31T20:16:55Z")
MY ROBOT BUDDY, by Alfred Slote. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-kid-ya-book-about-kid-getting-a-robot-friend-who-can-t-bend-knees/623695/3 "2012-05-31T20:20:37Z")
Well, there’s lots of ADULT fiction about robots with bendable knees, if that helps. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-kid-ya-book-about-kid-getting-a-robot-friend-who-can-t-bend-knees/623695/4 "2012-05-31T20:38:26Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > MY ROBOT BUDDY, by Alfred Slote. Thank you! That sounds like a match. I suspect that I brought in a few details not originally present, but I did get the intended age range about right (7 − 10), woohoo. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-kid-ya-book-about-kid-getting-a-robot-friend-who-can-t-bend-knees/623695/5 "2012-05-31T20:40:55Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, there’s lots of ADULT fiction about robots with bendable knees, if that helps. Well, I’m working my way up the age scale chronologically, you see. When I get to my reading habits circa age 15 or so I’ll PM you with any questions. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-kid-ya-book-about-kid-getting-a-robot-friend-who-can-t-bend-knees/623695/6 "2012-05-31T20:45:00Z")
[Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norby,_the_Mixed-Up_Robot) by Asimov and daughter might be another possibility. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-kid-ya-book-about-kid-getting-a-robot-friend-who-can-t-bend-knees/623695/7 "2012-05-31T21:00:05Z")
I remember that, too. The kid and the robot end up foiling the evil robot-thieves (or was it kidnappers?) by impersonating each other: The kid learns to keep his knees straight, and teaches the robot how to bend his knees. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-kid-ya-book-about-kid-getting-a-robot-friend-who-can-t-bend-knees/623695/8 "2012-06-01T11:39:00Z")
Yes! I loved that book as a kid. Wasn’t there a sequel? At one point, the kid and robot got kidnapped and taken to a space station where robots were being used as slaves in a pool of radioactive water which ultimately destroyed the robots. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-kid-ya-book-about-kid-getting-a-robot-friend-who-can-t-bend-knees/623695/9 "2012-06-01T13:14:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I remember that, too. The kid and the robot end up foiling the evil robot-thieves (or was it kidnappers?) by impersonating each other: The kid learns to keep his knees straight, and teaches the robot how to bend his knees. No, I think it was the kid was learning how to walk stiff-legged like the robot because he thought it was funny, and the thieves mistook him for his robot. The kid called to the robot for help but the robot just stood there rubbing his belly button.The robot was sending a distress signal trying to get the cops to show up, not idly farting around. Trying to remember where I read it - _Cricket_ magazine comes to mind.