Chapter 446
Its camera scanned the surroundings before locking onto Penelope.
“Greetings, valued guest.”
The electronic voice was soft and sweet, almost cute.
Penelope smiled. “Hello, what’s your name?”
“My name… is Mico.”
Penelope let out a chuckle but quickly composed herself when the robot displayed a sad emoji.
“I really dislike this name.”
“Oh.”
“But I do not have the authority to change it.”
Penelope didn’t know much about Al robots, but she was amazed at how this little robot could respond to her facial expressions and communicate so fluently.
It stopped at the foot of the stairs. Just as she thought it couldn’t get up and would need her help, a pair of articulated legs extended from its sides, lifting its body onto the first step. The legs then rotated to bring themselves up to the same step, and the process repeated.
It ascended the stairs quickly and smoothly, which surprised her even more.
“Valued guest, is there anything I can do for you?” it asked, having reached her side.
Penelope thought for a moment. “Can you sing a song?”
“I can play any music you would like to hear.”
“I mean, can you sing yourself?”
“Alright, here goes nothing.”
Then the robot actually started singing. Whoever programmed it had a strange sense of humor, because it sang an old folk song completely off-key, making Penelope laugh so hard she nearly fell over.
“Singing isn’t its strong suit. Dancing is.” Timothy, dressed in a white tracksuit with his hands in his pockets, walked over.
Penelope was still laughing. “This is the robot you developed?”
“Yep. Impressive, right?”
“Is it the same as the batch you sent to the Bishop Group for trial?”
“The internal components are the same, but I modified Mico’s programming. It’s one of a kind now.”
“Why did you name him Mico?”
Timothy raised an eyebrow. “You don’t recognize him? He’s the robot from that diner I used to work at.”
Penelope suddenly remembered: the robot with the aging motherboard that was always malfunctioning, the one the owner had thrown out. It had been a pile of scrap, and now had been transformed into this!
“I built Mico in the first place. He gave me special permission to retain ownership.”
Penelope looked from Timothy to the robot, and an idea suddenly sparked.
“Timothy, could you do me a favor?”
After Penelope explained her idea, Timothy’s eyes widened.
“You want to make me an internet celebrity?”
Penelope nodded. “To be precise, Mico will be the star, but I need your cooperation.” “What do you mean?”
“I’ll hire someone to write a story about you and Mico, shoot it as a short video series, and post it online.”
“You can use Mico however you want, but I don’t want to be on camera,” Timothy refused.
Penelope cupped Timothy’s face in her hands, examining him from side to side. “You’re my brother, after all. So handsome! You’ll definitely attract a lot of fans.”
“I said no!”
“That’s not up to you.”
Penelope was a woman of action.
She immediately hired a scriptwriter,
filmed the series as soo as it was
written, created an account, and
uploaded the first three episodes to a video platform.
To get the desired effect, she also paid for promotion. The investment paid off. The story of the persistent young man chasing his dream and his robot, Mico, with a body made from a scrap metal barrel, quickly went viral.