The Wild Robot

ROZZUM unit 7134, known as Roz, is the main character of the story. Built to perform a variety of menial tasks, Roz is a resourceful robot. Her internal software is sophisticated enough to give her the capacity to learn and improve on her performance based on her experiences. This is vital to Roz’s survival when she finds herself activated on an island with no human inhabitants. Her primary objective at the beginning of the story is to protect her body from harm and remain functional. Since she is completely on her own, Roz must be creative and determined.

As the story progresses, Roz evolves tremendously. She becomes intent on ensuring the survival and well-being of her adopted son, an orphaned gosling. Roz also begins to devote a great deal of time and effort to helping the animals of the island, giving them shelter, safety, and food. In doing so, Roz becomes “wild,” meaning she becomes like the animals, a part of life on the island. Roz’s experience on the island promotes the fundamental question of the story: can a robot, the most artificial being imaginable, exist in the wilderness? Roz proves that a robot can not only live in the wilderness but adapt and thrive there. She runs with the deer, sings with the birds, sunbathes with the lizards, etc. Instead of forcing the animals to conform to her ways of being, Roz modifies herself to acclimate to theirs.

Roz’s basic decency and “natural” generosity offer other thought-provoking questions. What happens to a being who was created to take orders from “higher beings” when she is left to make her own choices? Roz chooses to extend herself far beyond her original programming, to make choices that benefit others. She chooses love and friendship. Can technology and the natural world co-exist peacefully? Roz shows that they can, provided that the technology is used in ways that promote harmony with nature.

Brightbill is a young goose who was orphaned when Roz accidentally set off a landslide that killed his parents and siblings’ eggs. Brightbill imprints on Roz immediately after hatching, as she is the first creature he sees. He calls her Mama and cuddles in her arms, not knowing how strange it is for a gosling to have a robot mother. Brightbill accepts Roz and loves her for all the reasons that a baby loves his mother: she offers him warmth, food, protection, and affection, even if Roz is only “acting” as his mother in the beginning.

Brightbill develops ambiguous feelings towards his mother as he grows, hurt and angry that the other goslings call her a monster and bully him for his insistence that they are a family. Brightbill questions their connection, whether she is “really” his mother and how his identification as a goose is affected by being adopted, but in the end he feels devoted to Roz and secure in their relationship.

Brightbill matures during his winter migration, enduring hardship and fear. His curious nature leads him to learn about the world apart from the island and his determination and strength of character make him a natural leader among the flock. After his return, Brightbill also leads the resistance against the foreign robots that mean to take away his mother, risking his own life to save her. The strongest indication of Brightbill’s maturity and love for his mother comes when he accepts that she must leave him to recreate the happy life they shared.

Loudwing is an elderly goose who helps Roz learn how to care for Brightbill. Loudwing is reluctant to engage with Roz at first, but the cries of the hungry newborn gosling draw her in. Loudwing is impressed with Roz’s intention to care for the gosling and immediately refers to him as the robot’s son. She thus demonstrates practicality, feeling that the needs of the gosling outweigh the strangeness of his adoptive mother. Loudwing even names Brightbill, as female elders of family groups often assist in the naming of new human babies. As a senior member of the goose flock, Loudwing regularly preserves the rituals of her people, such as her watch over the goslings’ Swimming Day.

Throughout the story, Loudwing serves as a loyal and kind, in her abrupt way, advisor to Roz, particularly when Brightbill “runs away.”

Mr. Beaver is another of Roz’s early and most trusted friends and advisors. He refuses to help her build a shelter at first, until his wife sensibly insists that he stop being rude and stubborn. Mr. Beaver demonstrates great skill in designing and building structures and he enjoys the innovations he comes up with at Roz’s requests. Mr. Beaver makes the most of his specialization with wood construction and knows which other animals excel at their own specific abilities. He brings together the Fuzzy Bandits and Trunktap the woodpecker to help him make Roz a prosthetic foot.

Mr. Beaver is protective of his family and can have a bit of a temper, but shows himself willing to listen to the ideas of others, including his son. He puts aside his anger with Rockmouth the pike and makes amends for having trapped the fish by making a barrel for Roz to carry him home.

Nettle and Thorn begin the story as antagonists to Roz, as they threaten her and try to drive her from the island. The bears are young and immature, so they make up for their inexperience with bluster. Thorn in particular is very young and ignorant, so he constantly copies his sister’s words and actions, much to Nettle’s annoyance.

When the young bears attack Roz and Thorn goes over the side of the cliff, the reader sees that they had not truly known what they were doing. Mother Bear shows herself to be an anguished mother, not a danger. When Roz saves her cub, Mother Bear shows her gratitude by carrying Roz back home, a demonstration of partnership that the other animals have never witnessed. Once again, Roz creates connections between herself and others, even unlikely creatures like the fearsome bears, through her gracious and compassionate actions. At the end of the story, the bears prove instrumental in defeating RECOS 3, as they are loyal to Roz.

Chitchat is a young squirrel who befriends Brightbill and becomes his first true friend. Extremely talkative, she worries that she bothers others with her impulsive chatter, so she is thankful when Brightbill accepts her as she is. Chitchat has no fear of Roz and enjoys many summer days exploring the island and playing in the Nest. Chitchat is important to the story because she shows the normalization of Roz and Brightbill’s life as a family. Roz had worried about her son making friends and enjoying a normal childhood, so Chitchat’s extension of friendship brings her mother’s “heart” much joy.

RECOS 1, RECOS 2, and RECOS 3 are the combat robots that arrive on the island, sent by their Makers to retrieve the lost ROZZUM robots, including Roz. The RECOS are a different model of robot than Roz, bigger and bulkier and less physically vulnerable. The RECOS operate as one would expect “typical” robots to behave. They carry out their orders without question, consider Roz to be defective because she refuses to comply with the directives set out by Makers, and can use only the information already in their computer brains. Unlike Roz, they do not “learn” and adapt based on new input and experiences. The RECOS are therefore no match for the “illogical” and unexpected ways in which the animals fight back against their efforts to capture Roz.