In the Creativity Corner, the most colorful and cheerful room in the entire kindergarten, paper and new pastels filled the air with their scent. The sun peeked through the large window and drew golden squares across the floor. In the middle of one such square stood siblings Alex and Emma. And with them their best friend, a little robot named Beep-Bop.
Beep-Bop wasn't an ordinary robot. He had small wheels, two clever arms, and instead of a face, one big light glowed. When Beep-Bop was happy, the light was bright green. When he was confused, it blinked yellow. And when something wasn't working out for him, it changed to a sad blue. Right now it was glowing green, because Emma had patted his smooth metal head.
"Beep-Bop, shall we draw a cheerful sun today?" Emma suggested and handed the robot a special yellow marker.
"A sun! Great idea!" Alex agreed. "It will have a big round face and a smiling mouth!"
Beep-Bop chirped happily, which in his language meant "of course," and one of his arms elegantly took the marker. He placed it on the large paper on the floor and began to move. Movement forward. Buzzing sound. Line. Then he stopped, turned exactly ninety degrees in place and moved again. Buzzing, line. Stop, turn, buzzing, line. And once more.
The result was a perfect, precise square.
Alex and Emma looked at each other. "That's not a sun, Beep-Bop," Alex said gently. "A sun is round. Like a ball."
Beep-Bop's light blinked yellow. He looked confusedly at his square and then at the round ball in the corner of the room. He tried again. But his movements were still straight and his turns always precise, as if measured with a ruler. From the paper another yellow square looked back at them. Beep-Bop lowered his arm with the marker and his light changed to a sad, dark blue. He chirped quietly.
"He can't draw a curved line," Emma whispered. "He can only make straight ones."
"But why?" Alex wondered. "He's such a smart robot."
They decided to figure it out. First they tried to help Beep-Bop. Emma took another marker and next to his square drew a beautiful, large circle. "Look, Beep-Bop, like this. Try to copy it."
Beep-Bop scanned her drawing with his internal sensor. His light blinked with hope for a moment. Then his arm with the marker jerked forward, then to the side, but still moved only in straight segments. The result was just a cluster of lines that didn't look like a circle at all. Beep-Bop's blue light dimmed even more, as if all hope was draining from him. He lowered his arms and sadly backed away from the paper.
"Poor thing," Emma pitied him. "He's trying so hard."
Alex sat down on the floor and thoughtfully propped his chin. He looked at Beep-Bop's perfect squares and then at Emma's imperfect but cheerful circle. He watched how Beep-Bop moved – always just straight forward and then a precise turn. Never any curve, no smooth turning.
"Wait..." Alex whispered and his eyes lit up. "Emma, I think I know! Beep-Bop can't make one long, curved line. But what if... what if he could make lots and lots of tiny straight lines?"
Emma looked at him uncomprehendingly. "How would that help?"
"Look," Alex explained, drawing with his finger on the floor. "He'll go a little bit forward. Then turn just a tiny bit. Again a little bit forward. And turn slightly again. And like this all the way around! Those short lines will be so close together that it will look like a circle!"
It was a brilliant plan. A plan that respected who Beep-Bop was.
They approached the robot, whose light was still sadly blue. "Beep-Bop, let's try once more, but differently," Alex said encouragingly. "You'll listen to us. Ready?"
Beep-Bop chirped weakly and his light flashed to confused yellow.
"Good," Alex began commanding like a little captain. "Now take just a tiny step forward."
Beep-Bop moved about a centimeter. The yellow marker left a short line on the paper.
"Excellent! And now turn, but just a hair," Emma joined in.
The robot's little motor buzzed quietly and he turned by an almost imperceptible amount.
"And now again! Step!" Alex commanded.
"Turn!" Emma added.
Slowly, patiently, step by step, line by line, they guided their robotic friend. Step, turn. Step, turn. Beep-Bop moved across the paper and behind him remained a trail. It wasn't a smooth line, it was made up of dozens of tiny, straight segments. But when after a long while they returned to the beginning, all three looked at the result in amazement.
On the paper was a circle.
Maybe it wasn't perfectly smooth like Emma's, but it was undoubtedly a circle.
Beep-Bop's light blinked. It changed color from blue, through confused yellow, until finally it glowed with the brightest, most joyful green the children had ever seen. He chirped triumphantly and spun in place.
"We did it!" Alex shouted.
"You did it, Beep-Bop!" Emma corrected him and joyfully hugged the robot.
Now drawing the sun was child's play. Beep-Bop enthusiastically drew straight rays around his circle, which he did excellently, and Alex and Emma drew big smiling eyes and a cheerful mouth in the center.
Their shared sun was the most beautiful in the entire Creativity Corner. It wasn't perfect, but it was theirs. And it shone almost as brightly as Beep-Bop's victorious green light. The children learned that even when something doesn't work one way, there's always another, clever path to find. And Beep-Bop? He learned that with the help of good friends, even a robot can draw the most beautiful sun.