Maya and the Robot

Mr. Mac comes running in to protect Maya from whatever made her scream. When he sees the face that startled her, he begins to laugh hysterically. Maya is still unsure what the face is, so Mr. Mac clears a path towards it and introduces her to Ralph, a robot. Ralph’s head is shaped like an upside-down bucket, has shiny circles for eyes, and an LED panel for a mouth. His body is barrel-shaped and contains a number of gauges and buttons, and his arms are made of lots of tiny hinges so that they can bend flexibly. At the end of his arms are three-fingered hands that have the ability to grip things, and his feet are made of treads so that he can navigate bumpy ground with no problems.

Maya is amazed by the robot and asks Mr. Mac who made it. After a moment of silence, he explains that his son, Christopher, made it as a side project while he was in school because he was lonely. He reveals that Christopher went to Stanford. Maya is even more impressed, as she is obsessed with Stanford and the other big tech universities and hopes to go to one day.