"The Secret Life of Bots" is a 2017 science fiction story by Suzanne Palmer.
It was first published in Clarkesworld Magazine.
Autonomous maintenance robots take on a much larger role in saving a spaceship from aliens than the ship's human crew could have ever suspected.
[1] "The Secret Life of Bots" won the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novelette[2] and the WSFA Small Press Award.
Tangent Online considered it to be "charming", with "vivid, interesting characters", and noted the robots have "individuality and multitudes of personalities".