What would you do if you live in a remote farm, have many chores to do, and no friends nearby? This is the story of a boy who lived in such conditions. His name was Spencer, and he was very intelligent and very passionate about science. His parents’ farm was very vast, and Spencer was responsible for cleaning the stables, the chicken coop, and the pigs’ pen. He was not a fan of these chores, and he always wondered what would happen if he could build a robot to help with his chores?
For weeks, every day after completing his schoolwork and his daily chores he researched different websites and gathered information regarding robot building and programming. Eventually he knew what he was supposed to do, and he collected all the materials necessary: scrap metal, wires, a motherboard, and some nuts and bolts. He spent every free second of each day assembling the parts and programming the robot’s “brain”. At the end of seven grueling weeks, when he had no more patience to spare, his creation was ready and taking care of the chores. During that time, Spencer had become very fond of his robot and had named him Stachipen. This robot was just the break Spencer needed from his chores, and Stachipen was faster than Spencer could ever be. Now Spencer had more time on his hands, but still he had no friends nearby. Spencer wished that Stachipen could play with him, but he was not able to develop a program to make the robot play. Spencer was convinced that Stachipen would always be just a working robot. Every night when Spencer went to bed the last wish in his heart was to be able to play with Stachipen.
One day in the summer, the sky started to get darker, strange though most of the thunderhead clouds were positioning themselves above the barn where Stachipen was kept. The wind began to blow franticly, and the rain started to pour down. All of a sudden, without warning, lightning struck the barn. Flames engulfed the north side of the barn which was exactly the location where Stachipen was. Although Spencer and his parents tried to save Stachipen, the flames and the bolt had gotten to him. His body was charred, his wires were burned, and the motherboard was melted. Spencer was heartbroken and had a hard time sleeping that night. What would he do without his invention? Even though Stachipen could not play, the robot had provided Spencer with companionship.
The next morning, Spencer was woken up by a hard tapping on his shoulder, and by a thunderous voice saying “Spencer, get up dude, we need to do our chores.” Spencer turned around, and what he saw made him speechless: standing there at the side of his bed was Stachipen! But something was different about Stachipen; he looked the way he did before the lightning bolt struck. But that was not all, now he could talk and think, and his joints were not stiff anymore. The heat from the flames and the electricity from the bolt had given Stachipen life. Spencer was no longer alone, from that day forward Spencer and Stachipen became more than friends: they were brothers and playmates.