Background
I first used robots in a comic strip called The Difficult Decision, which I made for my two youngest children to help explain their parents separation. I discovered that in the cartoon universe a robot provided a great metaphor for humans and the human condition. I developed the robot as a metaphor further in a short picture book, Being Human, that examined communication and its limitations. Both of these projects evolved into this story, created as part of my Illustration MA, and into the deliberately genderless ‘Robot One’; christened to empathsise the metaphor; One could be all or any of us.
Synopsis
On a familiar looking space station, under the control of The Evil Empire, One is given a mission by Despatchbot 2.0. On the errand One experiences a series of seemingly simple mishaps that inadvertently save the day, and a planet. In a final twist One demonstrates its true potential, and in so doing challenges the assumptions we may have made watching the mistakes and accidents, by hacking into the space station’s main computer and ejecting Dr Doom from the space station.
The story concludes with an addendum that reveals the source of One’s difference and questions the peconceptions and misconceptions surrounding ideas of what being “normal” means.
One doesn’t want to be different. Its was made that way; with a different hard drive.