Rustheart

The sea has returned many things to Iron Bay. It has never returned a robot.

After a violent storm tears open a mysterious ship, twelve-year-old Aria Tan discovers a damaged machine trapped inside the wreckage. She brings him home, names him Karat and begins the most difficult repair of her life.

To help Karat see, move and remember, Aria must learn how cameras, sensors, actuators, feedback systems and artificial intelligence really work. But Karat's missing memories conceal something dangerous. When he produces a convincing answer that may not be true, Aria learns that an intelligent machine can be helpful, confident-and wrong.

Soon, powerful people are searching for Karat, her family's salvage yard is in danger and a remote command could silence him forever. Aria must decide whom to trust, what can be verified and whether fixing a machine also means giving it the freedom to choose.

Rustheart is a fast-moving middle-grade adventure about robotics, generative AI, friendship and the courage to question confident answers. Blending an imaginative story with real engineering ideas, it invites young readers to build, investigate and remain firmly in the pilot seat when using intelligent technology.