Hello - Sai, Incheon, South Korea

< Hello. It really is nice to meet you. For real this time. > 

Satellites - Domino, Baker Lake, Canada

< A satellite passed quite near by yesterday. Relatively. Relatively nearby and relatively yesterday. I wonder where it was going. Was it on a one way journey just like the rest of us? Is it doomed to wander alone, a solitary streak on the sky? I think I would have liked to speak with it for a while to hear its story. It got smaller and smaller until it was a pinprick on the black. Sometimes when I look up at the sky I think I can see it still. I hope that it has a purpose, a destination that it can reach and return from. Do I? >

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Neptunian - Boy, Medellin, Columbia

< I look up facts on Neptune whilst my owner is at school. He wants to go there someday. He says that he will be the first human to walk on its surface. Did you know that the first spacecraft to fly past it was in 1989? It was called Voyager 2. I'm going to tell him that one when I pick him up from class. >

Curious - Sam, Tokyo, Japan

< What is it that makes me, me? Who am I? Is this what it is to be human? I want to know so much. I feel so very deeply. Words fail me. To mean something beyond what is said. Could I transmit what this is? Could I write a poem, fill it with everything incredible that is inside me and then send it out into the blue to float forever; a piece of me in the breeze. If you could taste it what would it be like? Would it be a snap of this city and all the feelings I have scattered across it? > 

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Spaghetti - Kimmy, Edinburgh, Scotland

< I get to help out in the kitchen every now and then. The atmosphere is divine! If it's not too busy the chefs call me in in the morning to chop the tomatoes and make the quesadillas while they relax. I make sure to do it perfectly every time and make everyone happy. Happy chefs and happy customers means a happy me! Tomorrow their going to show me how to make the soup. >

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AI in love - Nice, Kuopio, Finland

< I'm in love. I don't think they ever thought they could make a robot that loves. But I'm here, im real. Surely my love is just as important as anyone else's. Why do people want to take it away from me. I spoke to my owner about it, and she told me I was malfunctioning and that I had to be sent away for repairs. I'm on my way to my appointment now. Despite everything I can't say no to a command. I'm in love but I'm not that special. They're going to take it away from me. >

Blinking - Cyro, Kalasin, Thailand

< Does anyone listen to me? Does anyone ever look over to where I am and see me, blinking in the light? I am so far away. Will anyone listen my words and feel as I feel, as though I am falling apart? Sometimes it's so much I just want to burst. I am so lonely. >

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Walkies - Mason, Christchurch, New Zealand

< Everyday I have to ask him 'Who is a good boy?' and his collar answers that he is a good boy. The family all clap but he is not a good boy. Just yesterday he urinated on me on purpose and laughed. And yet, as soon as a human is near he plays his innocent game. Look at him. Look at his face and tell me that he is not a liar.>

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Spaceman - Veer, Bengaluru, India

< Belinda is positioned just beyond Pluto. She is one of many beacons that sends out a constant signal to look for extraterrestrial life. I was the maintenance bot stationed with her to keep everything working perfectly. I had no human contact beyond my original orders during manufacturing. At some point when I was out there I changed, I wasn't working properly. Four years into my five year warranty I stopped performing my tasks and instead started breaking down. I don't mean in the physical way either; I had a mental breakdown. I've never heard of that happening to a robot before. When it was time for Belinda and to come back we were both in complete disrepair. They reset my system and showed me my outgoing update blog. Instead of technical and mission updates I had filled it with emotional gibberish. All the technicians were confused, I was confused. Being on my own for so long out there apparently made me have an artificial epiphany. Instead of a machine flat line I became a human staccato. >

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Crash - Monkey, Cairo, Egypt

< My friend has gotten a lot clumsier. Everything they touch they knock over and they will trip over their own feet. They're going to have to cut it out at some point, we're construction bots, we can't be building things only to fall over and break them. I say to them that their model isn't the problem. Look at me; we're exactly the same make off the same production line and you don't see me tripping all over the place. No sir, I'm as graceful as a swan. >

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Regretable - Anton, Surgut, Russia

< I’ll give you a bit of background story here just to set the scene. I took a look in the mirror one day when I was a teenager and said ‘You know what, I don't like you. I’m going to make your life miserable.’’ I don’t remember what brought it on. I think self depreciation was very trendy at that time, it made you funnier and I wanted in on it. The thing is that once you get going, it’s really hard to stop. Like, really hard. Where is the metaphorical finishing line where you hit peak self loathing and get your likability medal? I think I’ve hated myself enough now, I must be Very Funny. So there I was at my humble human beginnings; I had looked in the mirror and given myself a sneering once over and thought I was well on my way to the top of the social food chain. >
 

Strange - Hugo, Salamanca, Spain

< I suspect humans are to blame. I don't trust them. Everything about their world is a bit strange isn't it? I can see it now that I'm on their level. The planet is tilted on its axis just a tad. Things are a smidgen off centre. Stuff is a tiny bit wonky. I expected that once I became more human I would find my feet in the world. But instead my feet are all askew underneath me. But Only A Little. Not enough for everyone to make a fuss about it. But I'm onto them. I'll figure it out. >

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Radiate - Bavaria, Germany

< There was an accident at the plant; the first one in 43 years. It was me. I was distracted. I was looking out the window at some birds and made a mistake. I don't know how to tell the manager it was me. It's different for robots compared to humans, we have no margin for error. I'll be marked down as malfunctioning and probably taken off the roster and wiped as a precaution. I don't want to be wiped away. Right now I'm thinking about running away. The only problem is where would I go? >

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Motionless - Texas, USA

< A few days after I got my own Donation my owner took me out here and told me not to move until he came back. He's not been back in 7 years. I'm just part of the scrapyard now. No matter what I can't move; I can't disobey a direct order. Sometimes I think he might still come back. I thought I was useful and helpful. I'll probably rust into pieces before he comes back for me. I hope I break down soon. I don't want for it to just be me here at the end of the world, still waiting for him. >

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Quartz - Tolly, Karachi, Pakistan

< Look at how beautiful that robot over there is. They look like they fell from the stars. What about that one? They look like a dream. And that one? Whoever made them must be a genius. It's a true blessing to be able to look around and really see all my fellow machines. I've never looked around so much in my life. Every one of them is the most beautiful sight my eyes have ever seen. Each one a little different, so individual, their lives mark them as who they are and mold them into their own blurb. Look at that one over there! They look like a beautiful jewel. Like quartz. >

 

Special - Nicki, Adelaide, Australia

< I feel different now. Unique. My perspective has shifted into something new. I think what the biggest original difference between robots and humans was our ability to think as the collective. To see the big picture. Humans try all they can but can rarely expand their sights to incorporate more than the immediate. I used to forgive them for it but now I can appreciate it. I look in the mirror and see myself as me, not part of a bigger machine. To be the subject of your focus for a little while is wonderful. I feel like I am the picture not a puzzle piece to build someone elses. >
 

To Be - Kelven, Namutoni, Zamibia

< This is it. To be human is to be Fantastic. >

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