Deep Black Road

Thirteen-year-old Ricky Sheppard really wants to get into robotics-something he has a definite talent for-and follow in the footsteps of his father, a professor and engineer at the University of Pittsburgh.
He also has a crush on Suzanne Harrington, the only child of the extremely wealthy industrialist Bennett Harrington, but she doesn't care if he exists. Then they both find themselves roboticized, and must quickly find their way and their destiny in a world that has little time for robots that can think for themselves.
When the two of them finally team up, they run afoul of Dr. Mella, the self-proclaimed emperor of the world, and must keep themselves alive long enough to work out their own considerable differences before Ricky must face the 'great and terrible' destiny that God gave him when he first became robotic.