Robot Trouble

A.I. Gang #3

by Bruce Coville

Thinking that things could not be worse when an international superspy invades Ancoteague Island, the A. I. Gang of young geniuses decides to build a rocket that will launch Dr. Weiskopf's singing robot into space. Original.

Genres: Science Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Mystery

208 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1986

About the author

Bruce Coville was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1950. His family lived in farm territory, about twenty miles north of Syracuse. Bruce grew up around the corner from his grandparents' dairy farm, where he spent a great deal of time as a child, dodging cows and chores to the best of his ability. As a young reader he loved Mary Poppins and Dr. Dolittle, and still has fond memories of rising ahead of the rest of his family so he could huddle in a chair and read THE VOYAGES OF DR. DOLITTLE. He also read lots of things that people consider junk (Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, and zillions of comic books). His only real regret is the time he spent watching television, when he could have been reading instead. (A mind is a terrible thing to waste!)

His first book, THE FOOLISH GIANT, was published in 1978. It was illustrated by his wife, Katherine, whom he had married in 1969. This was followed in 1979 by SARAH'S UNICORN, also illustrated by Katherine. After a long period of working separately, the Covilles began collaborating again with SPACE BRAT and GOBLINS IN THE CASTLE, both published in 1992.

Before getting published Bruce earned his living as a toymaker, a gravedigger, a cookware salesman, an assembly line worker, and finally as an elementary school teacher (second and fourth grades). He left teaching in 1981 to devote himself to becoming a full time writer - though it took another five years to achieve that goal!)

Bruce has published over 100 books, which have appeared in over a dozen countries around the world and sold more than sixteen million copies. Among his most popular titles are MY TEACHER IS AN ALIEN, INTO THE LAND OF THE UNICORNS, and THE MONSTER'S RING. In 2001 he founded Full Cast Audio, an audiobook company dedicated to creating unabridged, full cast recordings of the best in children's and young adult literature.

Reviews

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote elsewhere about my love for this series, and I'm glad to re-read it now and plan to read it with my own kids. The series was from the 80s and was set in a near future with a world on the brink of war, and a group of geniuses (and their genius kids) gathered on a remote South Pacific island to try to develop Artificial Intelligence. The kids try to develop their own A.I. (Operation Sherlock!), partly to solve mysteries about an apparent terrorist spy among the scientists. Anyway, there are oddities about this series (including that the original plan was for Bruce Coville to write books 1 & 4 and another author books 2 & 3, a book 2 called "The Cutlass Clue" was written, but then Coville wrote 3 & 4, and now only the Coville books are ever printed, re-labeled 1, 2, and 3 - it's weird! And now they're out of print and removed from Kindle again!). Anyway, in this one there is a robot that might be used to solve problems with satellites, so the kids build a rocket to get it into orbit, but another terrorist is trying to use the project and is willing to kill to succeed . . . Near-future sci-fi from the 80s is sometimes iffy, but the science holds up pretty well.

[Wolfkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly? Even better. Robot Trouble is just as if not more compelling than Operation Sherlock. You of course have your romance angles with Roger and Wendy and Hap and Rachel but aside from the latter and even then they aren't pushed that far. It's not remotely central to the story that the sexual tension is there. But the plot now with a new spy taking away from the belief of Black Glove. It's good.

Heck knowing what I know of the series end there's even a fairly obvious clue to the reader who Black Glove is.

[Kal1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Major plot hole - when Ramon Korbuscek is "caught" the first time where the person actually caught was framed, the identity was never confirmed by Dr. Remov
Another one, towards the end author describes the Missile Silo as having light then sometimes its very dark or something - it gets pretty confusing.
Well 3 stars because the 'gang' builds and launches a Rocket, and the general parts of the story like capturing the robot were done well.
This one didn't have much to do with AI though thats fine because its honestly the weakest part of the story so far.

[Colton Myers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another entry in the young adult series The AI Gang. I actually liked this one better than the first in the trilogy. It suffers from some of the same issues in writing style but kept me pretty interested. And once again the tech doesn’t age as poorly as it probably should. Fun, short read! I’m excited to read the finale!

3.5 stars

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great series. Really enjoyed it.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

We liked this one more than the first. The ending was exciting with lots of twists and turns. We're looking forward to the last book.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as good as the first, but still with that Coville flair. There's a little bit of crushing going on, but no full blown romance. WHICH I GREATLY APPRECIATED. I love the ensemble nature of this book, as well as the imperfection of the characters. I think I've figured out who the bad guy is. I hope I'm right because it was my suspect from book one. The plot, it thickens, with additional intrigue, increasing threat, and parental interference. Definitely going to read the next book. Recommend.

[Whitney Borup · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one had a talking robot head.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

25/25
I seem to have loved Bruce Coville back in the day! This is the 3rd book of his I read in a 2-month time period!

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this one as well as the first in the trilogy, maybe because I had it on Kindle and I couldn't keep track of who was who, or maybe because I read the first one a few months ago.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as fun as the first. I don’t even like robots but I’m having a good time with these.