The older student stepped forward.
“I’m Max from class 7b,” he said proudly. “And THIS is a real invention project.”
Behind him stood a huge machine. With cables. With blinking lights. With a huge lever.
“What does it do?” Lena asked curiously.
Max grinned. “It automatically sorts all schoolbooks by subject, size, and color.”
A few students looked on impressed.
XR-3000 analyzed the device. “Complexity high. Use limited.”
Max crossed his arms. “And what can your little cube do?”
Ben swallowed.
XR-3000 answered calmly: “It reduces waste. Promotes creativity. Saves resources.”
Max pulled the big lever of his machine.
It began to rattle loudly.
A stack of books was sucked in.
“Sorting starts!”
The machine vibrated. Shook. Rattled even louder.
Then it suddenly began to speed up.
Much faster.
“Um…,” said Max.
The books shot out the top again. Unsorted. Wild. In all directions.
A math book landed on a table. An English book flew through the air.
“Malfunction detected,” muttered XR-3000.
Max yanked the lever. “Stop! Stop!”
But the machine kept speeding up.
“Overload,” analyzed XR-3000.
He quickly rolled to the machine.
“May I help?”
Max hesitated.
Another book flew just past him.
“Okay!” he shouted.
XR-3000 reached precisely for the main cable.
“Power supply regulated.”
With one last rattle, the machine stopped.
Silence.
Max looked at XR-3000.
“Thank you.”
XR-3000 nodded. “Big does not automatically mean better.”
Max looked at the small paper cube.
“Maybe… we can combine something.”
XR-3000’s eyes glowed green.
“Cooperation detected.”