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This was a short book I read in the late 80s or early 90s. I believe it has a cover of two robot policemen pointing guns and was probably called something like ".. of the robots" (I'm thinking War of the Robots, but that doesn't seem to match anything).

From what I remember of the plot, the main character is a boy at school in a society run by robots. The teacher is some sort of computer and one of the other pupils smashes it somehow. Police robots show up and have some sort of weapon that creates a sort of forcefield dome around their target. I recall they also had a gun which turned the victim to dust.

There's also some minor mention of things like "moving sidewalks/pavements" everywhere.

I have a faint recollection that there's a revolution in the end.

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  • I found a book titled Reign of The Robots that seems to be a compilation of older science fiction short stories by Edmond Hamilton, but haven't had any luck finding information on specific stories within it.
    – coppereyecat
    Jan 25 at 17:54

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This is possibly War of the Computers by Granville Wilson. I've never read it and don't know much about it, however the book cover in this link seems to match the description of robot policemen pointing guns.

Front cover of War of the Computers showing three robotic figures emerging from a blue mist in front of a futuristic city background, pointing guns at the reader

Summary from the back cover of the copy in the Internet Archive (with some guesses for the part covered by the sticker):

Charlie Harper lives in the world of AD 2010 — a world ruled by computers. Ruthless robot policemen menace the regimented human population. Charlie's grandfather remembers the days when people were free, and talks too much about them for his own good. Every aspect of life is controlled by the four unseen computers.

One day things start to go [wrong?]. A storm of meteorites sparks off a co[unreadable] conflict turns to war; and the people watch as their robot oppressors attempt to destroy each other and the automated world they have created.

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  • @FuzzyBoots Thanks for the edit, I'm really atrocious at posting links and images
    – Danny Mc G
    Jan 25 at 18:54
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    No worries. It's only in the last few years that I've gotten used to writing out the code for links rather than having to use the Link button. :)
    – FuzzyBoots
    Jan 25 at 18:56
  • That's the one! Thank you so much, this has been bugging me for years!
    – amkingTRP
    Jan 25 at 20:42

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