It was a sunny Saturday, and the whole family was having a day out at a big car boot sale in the countryside. Mum and Dad were looking at furniture, Casey was hunting for vintage clothes, and Lucy was wandering around holding hands with her boyfriend, Leo.
Kyri and Daisy were far more interested in the random bits and bobs—old toys, puzzles, and boxes full of rusty tools. “This place is amazing,” Kyri said, digging through a crate of tangled wires.
“Look at this!” Daisy called, pointing to a dusty, metal robot head sitting on a table. Its eyes were two big round bulbs, and its mouth was a wobbly tin line.
Kyri picked it up carefully. “It looks like it came out of a science lab!”
“Or a scary movie,” Reef teased, appearing behind them with a grin. “I dare you to buy it.”
Kyri narrowed his eyes. “It’s not scary. It’s cool.”
Lucy strolled over with Leo. “What have you two found?”
“It’s a robot head!” Daisy said. “Kyri thinks it’s from a lab.”
Leo, who liked fixing things and building skate ramps with Reef, crouched to look closer. “I bet it used to move. With a little work, you could bring it back to life.”
Kyri’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Let’s take it home and see,” Leo said, grinning at Kyri.
The Workshop
That afternoon, Leo and Lucy helped Kyri set up in the old workshop behind the garage. It was filled with Dad’s tools and Reef’s half-finished skateboards. Leo spread out a cloth and began examining the robot head.
“Alright, Kyri, this thing has seen better days. But we’ll start by figuring out how it works. Robots are powered by circuits—they’re like tiny roads for electricity.”
Daisy twirled a screwdriver. “Can I help?”
“Of course,” Leo said. “You two are my engineers.”
Lucy sat nearby, sipping lemonade. “I’ll supervise. Someone has to make sure this doesn’t explode.”
“It won’t explode,” Kyri said confidently, pushing up his sleeves. “It’s science.”
Fixing the Robot
Together, they carefully opened up the robot head. Inside were dusty wires and a few metal gears. Kyri peered closer. “Look! It’s like a tiny engine.”
“That’s the motor,” Leo explained. “Motors make robots move. This one’s stuck, but we can clean it and add new wires.”
Reef wandered in, balancing his skateboard on one finger. “How’s it going, robot geniuses?”
“Almost there,” Kyri said, untangling a wire with Daisy. “Did you know robots use sensors to see and hear things? Like the ones in this robot’s eyes!”
“Fancy,” Reef said, raising an eyebrow. “Let me know when it starts talking.”
After a few hours of cleaning, tinkering, and fixing the circuits, Leo connected the robot head to a battery pack.
“Ready?” Leo asked.
Kyri held his breath. “Ready!”
The Robot Awakens
Leo flipped the switch, and for a moment, nothing happened. Then—click!—the robot’s eyes glowed faint yellow, and its mouth wobbled open. A faint, crackly voice came from the speaker inside.
“Hello… friend.”
“AHHH!” Daisy shrieked, then burst out laughing. “It works!”
Kyri’s face lit up. “It talks! We fixed it!”
The robot’s head turned slightly, its glowing eyes blinking slowly. “Hello… engineers. System active…”
Leo grinned. “You two just brought an old robot back to life.”
Lucy took a picture with her phone. “You’re practically a mad scientist, Kyri. Well done.”
Kyri couldn’t stop smiling. “It’s not mad. It’s science.”
Robot Dance-Off
To celebrate, Daisy began dancing around the workshop, spinning and twirling like she always did. “I bet the robot likes music.”
Leo grabbed a speaker from his bag and put on some music. The robot’s head twitched in time with the beat.
“It’s dancing!” Reef laughed, tapping his foot. “The robot’s got rhythm.”
Soon, everyone was dancing around the workshop—Kyri, Daisy, Reef, Lucy, and even Leo doing a ridiculous shuffle. The robot’s head blinked along with the music, its crackly voice saying, “Dance mode… engaged.”
A New Friend
As the sun set, Kyri and Daisy placed the robot head carefully on a shelf in the workshop. Its eyes glowed softly, like it was watching over its new home.
“What should we call it?” Daisy asked.
“Hmm…” Kyri thought hard. “How about Sparky? Because we fixed its circuits.”
“Sparky it is,” Leo said, wiping his hands on a rag.
Lucy took another photo of Kyri and Daisy standing proudly beside the robot. “Future inventors in the making.”
“Did you know,” Kyri said as they walked back to the house, “that robots can be programmed to build cars, explore Mars, or even clean up space junk?”
Reef smirked. “I just want one that’ll do my homework.”
Kyri grinned. “Maybe Sparky can help with that one day.”
As the stars came out, Kyri looked back at the workshop, where Sparky’s eyes glowed faintly in the dark. It wasn’t just a robot—it was a new friend.
And Kyri couldn’t wait to see what they’d invent together next.