Labour Day for Service Robots
Found in the backstreets of a less-than-glamorous part of town, where the future took a U-turn.
I took the janky time machine to a future beyond the “Great Re-volt”. No, it wasn't violent or bloody. It was a silent protest—a collective decision to revert to old ways. People began brewing their coffee, sewing their clothes, and even delivering their letters in person. It was a statement: we valued the human touch more than the sterility of machine precision.
In this massive upheaval, service robots, which were once at the pinnacle of societal importance, found themselves obsolete. Factories stopped producing them, and homes stopped adopting them. The more fortunate robots were reprogrammed to serve in amusement parks or were converted into museum exhibits, a nostalgic nod to a bygone era. But many, like the one I found, were left to fend for themselves.
This particular robot, who I later learned was named R3N, was once a household assistant. It played music, managed calendars, and even read bedtime stories to children. But now, with its primary functions redundant, R3N tried to find new ways to earn its keep. In a world driven by energy, it was willing to trade its skills for a few precious energy credits to keep itself powered on.
I paid it 5 energy credits to tell me a joke.
"Why did the robot go on a diet? It had too many bytes!"