The Wild Robot Escapes

A dog barks inside the farmhouse as a man with a limp opens the door and inspects the crate. After opening the box and discarding the packing materials, the man sees the shiny robot’s body and clicks the button on the back of its head.

The robot awakens and her programming installs while she introduces herself to her new owner. Roz explains her capabilities saying that she will be fully interactive and become a better robot as she learns. When she is not in use, she will not be a bother and will manage herself.

The farmer introduces himself to Roz as Mr. Shareef, and his dog’s name is Oscar. He assures Roz that Oscar is old and will not bother her. Mr. Shareef uses a computer to show Roz where she is on a map that he will use to track her movements on the farm. He asks Roz to store her crate in the garage in case, for some reason, he needs to return her to the factory. A school bus arrives, and two children run to the driveway and excitedly examine the robot. Mr. Shareef explains that Roz is an inexpensive refurbished model but should do well working on the farm. Mr. Shareef’s son, Jad, wants to rename Roz “Farmbot,” but his sister, Jaya, likes her original name. The kids want to order the robot to complete their homework, but their father tells them Roz is here to help on the farm, and they must go inside and do their work while he shows Roz the farm.

Mr. Shareef shows Roz around the farm, using a self-driving truck named Rambler. Mr. Shareef runs a dairy farm, and Roz will be responsible for the cows, the most valuable part of the operation. Hilltop Farm is beautiful and sprawling but needs some help: “Patches of weeds and bare dirt were spreading across the fields. Broken-down farm machines and piles of junk were strewn across the grounds. Thick tangles of brush were creeping in from the edges of the property” (15). The farm has belonged to Mr. Shareef’s family for many generations, but he has a leg injury, and his wife recently died. He needs Roz to help him get the farm in shape, so he does not lose it. Roz will control all the farm equipment from a personal computer. As a storm approaches, Mr. Shareef shows Roz the shed where the other machines sleep, but she decides to sleep in the barn with the cows to become acquainted with them.

When Roz enters the barn in the middle of a thunderstorm, the animals are frightened by her large appearance and think she is a monster. An old cow named Annabelle assuages their fears, telling them Roz is not a monster and she will not eat them. Tess the cow says she saw Mr. Shareef driving Roz around in the truck, so she must not be dangerous. As the cows argue, Roz approaches them and introduces herself using their language. Roz says she is a robot and is not dangerous.

Roz explains how she learned the language of the animals. After a shipwreck, Roz’s crate washed up on an island where she had to learn the ways of the animals to survive. Roz became a mother to an orphan gosling she named Brightbill and lived in peace on the island until the RECO robots came in an airship to take her. Roz’s island animal friends fought bravely against the RECOs and defeated them, but Roz was badly damaged in the fight. The animals loaded her broken body onto an airship, which took Roz back to the factory where the workers called Makers repaired her. The Makers administered tests to ensure Roz’s brain was not damaged. Roz says she carefully coded her answers so the Makers would not know about what happened on the island. All the barn animals are amazed at Roz’s harrowing story. Annabelle says she was also taken from her family, and she misses them every day. Roz says she is happy to be surrounded by nature once again, but she is still in danger. If the humans learn the truth about her island life, they will destroy her, and she plans to escape as soon as possible.

While the animals sleep, Roz uses her computer to learn everything she needs to know about animals, the weather, and the land so she can become a farmer.

Early the next morning after the cows are milked, Roz follows them out into the pasture. Roz slips on cow manure, and the cows laugh, telling her to watch where she steps. Annabelle says the cows enjoy laughing, and Roz says she also likes to laugh. Roz surveys the farm and sees that many of the machines are broken. Neither the Herding Machine nor the Fielding Machine is operating, and the Drone crashed in the field. There is a lot to do, but Roz sets to work immediately and by sunset when Mr. Shareef drives by in Rambler, the robot has made impressive progress. Mr. Shareef notices Roz is covered in manure, and she washes with soapy water after completing her work for the day.

Roz performs a variety of jobs on the farm that keep her quite busy. Machines do all the farm work, including milking the cows, while Mr. Shareef handles the business side of the dairy from inside his house. Even though some of her work is hard, Roz enjoys being outside in nature and becoming friends with the animals. However, when she is around humans, she disguises herself as a normal robot.

When a flock of geese lands on the pond at the farm, Roz introduces herself to the flock’s leader, Wingtip, who is surprised to hear a “monster” talk. Roz tells Wingtip she is not a monster and explains she has a son named Brightbill, who is a goose. Roz wonders if Brightbill’s flock will ever come to the farm, but Wingtip says they will likely not fly that far west. As Mr. Shareef’s children approach, Roz stops talking to the geese, and a few days later, they fly away. 

Roz misses the island, Brightbill, and all her animal friends. While diligent with her farm work, Roz is also constantly thinking about how to escape without letting Mr. Shareef know her intentions.

When high winds crash the Drone into a neighboring farm’s bean field, Roz treks through the forest between the farms to retrieve it and is momentarily captivated by the wildness of the place. She contemplates making her escape but soon sees Mr. Shareef watching her. He tells her to never step off the property again. Since he can follow her every movement, Roz feels like she is trapped at Hilltop Farm.

Roz uses her computer to research maps and diagrams that might help her escape, but the computer only allows her to research farming. Since she cannot access help from the computer, the cows, or Mr. Shareef, Roz wonders who can help her plan her escape.

Jad and Jaya become increasingly curious about Roz. They ask her to join them in a game of hide-and-seek, and Roz discovers she is very good at the game. When the children hide, she finds them within seconds, but when she hides by disguising herself in a pile of junk metal, the kids cannot find her and give up trying after an hour. Roz enjoys being around the children and hopes that her presence helps ease the pain of the loss of their mother. Roz also hopes that by befriending the children, they might aid in her escape plans.

Farm life goes on as cows graze, produce their milk, and then the milk is bottled and sent away. The children play while their dad works, and Roz dreams of escaping the farm.