Robinc (Short Story, 1943)

Robinc is the sequel to Q.U.R., the excellent illustration of why humanoid robots aren’t always the best shape for a job. Robinc, the nickname for the monopoly Robots Incorporated, isn’t happy with Q.U.R.’s usaform non-humanoid robots and sabotages demonstrations. The story assumes that there is no formal test and evaluation of a product, just a public show-and-tell. For more about real testing and evaluation, see Catch That Rabbit in the book Robotics Through Science Fiction: Artificial Intelligence Explained Through Six Classic Robot Stories.