Robot AL-76 Goes Astray

Infobox Short story
name = Robot AL-76 Goes Astray
title_orig =
translator =
author = Isaac Asimov
country = United States
language = English
series = Robot Series
genre = Science fiction short story
publication_type = Periodical
published_in = "Amazing Stories"
publisher = Ziff-Davis
media_type = Print (Magazine, Hardback & Paperback)
pub_date = February 1942
english_pub_date =
preceded_by = Robbie
followed_by = First Law "Robot AL-76 Goes Astray" is a humorous science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, originally published in the February 1942 issue of "Amazing Stories" and included in the collections "The Rest of the Robots" (1964) and "The Complete Robot" (1982).

AL-76 (aka Al) is a robot designed for mining work on the Moon, but as a result of an accident after leaving the factory of US Robots and Mechanical Men, it gets lost and finds itself in rural Virginia. It can't comprehend the unfamiliar environment and the people it meets are scared of it. When it comes across a shed full of spare parts and junk, it is moved to reprogram itself and builds a powerful mining tool of the kind it was designed to use on the Moon - but since it doesn't have the proper parts, it improvises and produces a better model, requiring less power. When angrily told to destroy it and forget all about it, it obeys, and the secret of the reprogramming and the improved tool is lost.

The theme of a robot reacting to an unfamiliar environment and reprogramming itself has been revisited on many occasions, including the films "Short Circuit" and its sequel.

AsimovStory
before=Robbie
included1=The Rest of the Robots
included2=The Complete Robot
series1=Robot Series
series2=Foundation Series
next=First Law