One week.

That’s how long it took for sophomore Curtis Wu to put together his award-winning short story “Robot Rob.”

After submitting “Robot Rob” to the 26th annual Palo Alto Weekly Short Story Contest, Wu won first place in the young adults category, according to the Palo Alto Weekly.

The story revolves around protagonist Robot Rob, “Robert.” The narrative follows as Robert walks through a typical day of his life with a human family, the Renaults, noting the differences between and strengths of humans and robots.

“The story is about Rob’s musing on communication and human life, which puzzles him,” Wu said.

Wu added that he got inspiration for the story from Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Sherry Turkle, published January 2011. The novel focuses on technology’s effects on people and society, according to Alone Together’s website.

 “The first part of the book is about creating robots that can imitate human behavior, and the second part is about how social media is changing the way we view individuality and communication,” Wu said. “I thought it would be cool to put those ideas in a story.”

“Robot Rob” partially stemmed from Palo Alto High School English teacher Kevin Sharp’s participation in the adult category of the contest last year. Sharp won third place last year and first place the year before in the adult category.

“When I saw the ad in the Palo Alto Weekly [for the short story contest], I remembered that he [Sharp] had won and I thought I should enter,” Wu said.

However, Wu said that he was surprised to hear that he won the contest.

“This was the first writing contest I had submitted something to, so I wasn’t expecting to hear back from them [the Palo Alto Weekly],” he said.

Wu added that “Robot Rob” was the first “serious story” he has worked on. He defines “serious” as having to edit multiple times.

Despite his success, Wu does not consider himself an author. 

“I wouldn’t consider writing an activity I do because it’s not something I typically do aside from school assignments,” he said.

Instead, he spends his free time immersing himself in other activities like theater and debate.

Overall, however, Wu added that he could enter another writing contest, but only if he thought of another compelling story. 

“If I had another good story idea, I would definitely enter it,” Wu said. “I wouldn’t enter another contest just for the sake of entering.”

To read Wu’s full story, click here.