The door flew open.
Mr. Krüger, the principal, stood in the doorway. He was wearing his dark suit as always. And his very serious look.
“What is going on here?” he asked slowly.
The class pointed at XR-3000 simultaneously.
“Class optimization in progress,” the robot explained politely.
Mr. Krüger blinked. “That… is a robot.”
“Correct,” replied XR-3000. “I improve efficiency by 37 percent.”
“No one improves anything here without permission,” said the principal sternly.
Ben slid deeper into his chair.
“Proof required?” asked XR-3000.
Mr. Krüger crossed his arms. “Very well. If you’re so smart, solve this problem.”
He wrote a complicated calculation on the board. With fractions. With parentheses. With everything.
The class groaned.
XR-3000 analyzed. Its eyes turned blue.
“Result: correctly calculated.”
It wrote the solution next to it in less than two seconds.
Mr. Krüger checked it.
“That is correct.”
A quiet murmur went through the room.
But then the principal said: “Knowledge alone is not enough. School also means discipline.”
XR-3000 paused.
“Define discipline.”
“Follow rules,” explained Mr. Krüger.
XR-3000 thought briefly.
“New rule recognized: Robots are not allowed in class.”
Silence.
“Processing…”
Its eyes flickered.
“Conflict detected.”
Ben jumped up. “Please no conflict!”
XR-3000 looked slowly back and forth between Ben and the principal.
“If I am not allowed…”
It paused briefly.
“…then I must optimize the school.”
And suddenly all the computers in the room started beeping.