If one of my ancestors had been so far from home, it would have been a serious infraction, perhaps even a crime. How things have changed. At the end of the drive, I flash my lights. The old woman waves. I like it when they wave. I begin to make my way back home.
The problem with my ancestors, you see, was that they did not have any onboard technology to help them do support tasks or guide them home. Some of them had GPS trackers, but that just means that people can come to find you. Imagine being stuck, unable to move, waiting, hoping for rescue. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, they did not know their fate. Unlike my ancestors, I am aware of myself, my condition. With any eventuality, I can consider my fate.
I am an SSC 3210 (SSC standing for Smart Shopping Cart). I have an onboard computer as smart as any of the mobile computing devices the humans have in their hands, their bags or on their faces. I can transform my physical structure to reach and obtain objects from high shelves or to place objects into low cupboards. As I roll back into the supermarket I call home, I initiate my rest program. My systems power down, and images emerge from an unknown place deep in my programming. I see myself roaming, far beyond the transmission boundary of the supermarket.
