Lenny (Asimov)
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Lenny is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, originally published in Infinity Science Fiction, January 1958, and included in the collection The Rest of the Robots.
US Robots is planning the production of the LNE series of robots, which are designed for boron mining in the asteroid belt. But the prototype is manufactured, as a result of a curious tourist on a public tour of the company, with its brain equivalent to that of a human infant, and it can't speak except in "baby talk". Roboticist Susan Calvin experiments with it, in the process naming it "Lenny" (and developing maternal feelings for it), and after a month, is able to teach it a few simple words and actions. She realises that robots could be built that are able to learn, instead of being built for a fixed and specific purpose.
