The robot blinked mechanically, cleaning the dirt off its eyes. Or, to be more precise, the glass placed just in front of the two cameras that gathered the information it used to see.
Dirt was a constant problem for the robot. In this area it seemed to be forever collecting dirt and dust upon its glass plates that distorted its vision and required the slow process of blinking: something that could create a real problem should the robot come under attack while running the blinking program. The CPU might never know.
Elsewhere dirt could easily get into its joints and cause robotic arthritis, necessitating an immediate return to base and a period away from the frontline while being cleaned. The stuff could get inside the robot too, causing a potential myriad of other problems that would result in the same situation.
If the robot could have thought for itself it may have reasoned that it wasn’t entirely well designed for its purpose. Despite a high degree of success when working properly, this model was badly suited to the conditions in which it was operated. The casing came along soon enough but the robot and its siblings were required to fight before it was completed. They saved lives and turned the tide but, with a little more work, could have won the war single-handedly.
Not that the casing proved to be a solve-all solution. The introduction of electromagnetic grenades saw to that. And the robot could still not blink away bullets.
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