Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny

2/5

A short-lived but interesting tale. Reginald Dacey is a mathematician committed to developing his entrepreneurial “teaching robots”, which he then transforms into nannies upon becoming a single father. Despite making sales using negative marketing against human nannies, an accidental death causes the invention to be forgotten. We then follow his son Lionel Dacey, who without knowing raises his father's illegitimate child using the robotic nanny technology in an attempt to show the worth of the creation, and the psychological institute that becomes involved in the child-raising process.

Whilst the sweet ending means to highlight the positive and necessary presence of a human parent, the lack of compassionate characterisation within the Dacey family reduces the overall story impact.