Yep; I agree that the whole point was to have it be an "everyrobot" that died, somebody we can vaguely empathize with but who represents the New People in general rather than being a character in their own right. If, say, Robot had died, the interesting ideas in this chapter ("Kat is essentially a creator deity now", "Annie's psychopomp promise is breathing down her neck", "these New People are, indeed, true etheric souls") would have all been overshadowed by the sadness of losing a beloved major character.