The Roboticist

It was a clear and sunny fall morning, that year of 2010.  John looked across the green grass of the White House lawn.  He shivered in anticipation of the upcoming announcement, the completion of the "Andrew" project, started ten long years ago...

The year was 1998, a few years away from the next millennium, seemed as if it was just yesterday.  John had just started work at Angelus Research that fateful year.  He was hired by the a company to help with an ambitious new design that would produce the world's first fully autonomous, artificially intelligent, human form robot.  The plot lay even deeper in the past, however...

Back in 1994, John was a young high school student, and rather nondescript in nature.  Average in most subjects, his attentions wandered as the wind from one fascination to another.  First it was stamp collecting, then playing the guitar.  Several painful lessons later, it was exploring the Internet.  And after that, a vague interest in theater that ended in a rather tragic case of stage fright.  But this year, John had found something incredibly intriguing, that appealed to his diverse interests, as well as his passion for Star Wars.  This was the first year his high school offered a High Technology Exploration Class.  John almost missed it all together.  Thanks to a lazy afternoon while waiting for a bus, Don happened to glance at the school class listing.  The word 'Robotics' caught his eye.

The class started rather simply, introducing a small robot called 'Whiskers'.  Rolling around on two wheels and a castor, the rather mischievous looking fellow managed to capture the hearts and minds of all the students.  John learned the basics of Whisker’s programming language, with simple actions like, 'forward', 'turn', and 'backup'.  Whiskers had a lot more complexity beneath his metal hide, however.  Embedded into the robot's little brain was a controller that not only responded to commands, but had 'instincts' and 'behaviors' that allowed it to react to it’s environment, intelligently.  This was fortunate for Mrs. Williams, our instructor, who almost tripped over Whiskers one day.  The robot magically backed out of her way while making a funny sound.  So what started as another 'phase' as John's mother called it, became a consuming passion.  What greater thing to behold than a machine that could think on it's own!  Not to mention, instead of dealing with complex machine code, John was able to program 'Whiskers' with simple, English-like commands!

School ended that year, and John was left with a vague sense of disappointment that his Robotics class was over.  The first few weeks of summer rolled by and John vainly tried to pick up the guitar again.  His father, inspired by the neighbors complaining about the noise, made a deal with John.  If John would put down the guitar, his father would purchase a Robot 'brain' from Angelus Research for John’s own robot.  John would need to earn the money for the remainder of the parts.  

And so John's first robotic project was finally off the ground.  He spent many a late hour with his computer exploring the far reaches of information about robotics on the Internet.  After earning enough money by working odd jobs, John and his father went off on a shopping spree.  They went to hardware stores, surplus stores, plastic supply warehouses, and bicycle shops.  The brains were ordered from the Angelus Research Internet Web Page.  With the parts in hand, the robot slowly took form.  John’s design called for two motor driven wheels in the rear, two castors in the front, and differential steering as used by like Whiskers.  This allowed for both simple programming, as well as increased maneuverability.  The chassis was formed out of clear blue acrylic plastic which John thought was cool.  He mounted the printed circuit board, batteries, as well as the optical sensors on his new creation.  As a final touch, John took a small sampling of his dusty stamp collection, and used them as decals on his new machine.

Many weeks passed, and John worked with a motivation that absolutely astonished his parents.  They were very pleased with him.  They forgave his persistent long hours, as he would play 'Midnight Engineer' working on schematics, wiring, and construction until the wee hours of the morning.

At last, the moment of truth came.  Only a month after he began working on his project, John was finally ready to turn his robot on for the first time.  Each wire was in place, each screw was tightened down with care, and John plugged the communication cable from his PC to his new creation.  Excitement lay thick in the air.  If all went well, the robot would start with it's LED’s blinking and then roam around the room avoiding things with ease.

But as John turned on the power switch...nothing happened!  No blinking, no beeping, no roaming like the little pet he expected.  Dismayed, John proceeded to check every wire and connection.  He remembered a bit of confusion over how the sensors were connected.  And after careful study, he reversed the wires to the sensors.

With a feeling of victory over the gremlins that had infested his machine, John reached once again for the power switch.  It's chrome surface glinting almost magically in the dim light of his workroom, as he placed one thumb gently underneath, and click!

It worked!  The robot, he now christened 'Sparky’ on it's maiden voyage, had come to life!  Quickly typing on his computer keyboard, he began testing each command, and much to his delight, the 'Gremlins' had been vanquished forever, and every function worked perfectly.

Of course, this resounding success was all it took to place John on the career path of becoming a professional Roboticist.  He began to apply himself to school in earnest, trying to learn as much as he could about electronics, physics, science, even biology.  And from each discipline, he was able to glean more insight into the field of robotics, with its multi-disciplinary scope.  In no time at all, John finished high school, graduated from college, and had acquired a very broad background in technology and biology.  He was now ready to enter the real world of robotics.  He applied for a position at the company that got him started so many year ago, Angelus Research Corp.

He had many choices of were to work...by the time 1998 rolled around, there were companies all over the world working feverishly in the field of robotics.  Mobile security robots, intelligent vacuum cleaners, automated material delivery systems, as well as elderly and handicapped robotic assistants were all coming into vogue at the turn of the century. The military saw the importance of robotics early on, investing large sums of money in intelligent machines.  Missiles, autonomous mine clearing robots and remote surveillance systems were examples at the time.  Above all these other endeavors, one project stood out above the rest: Project  'Andrew'.  No other company had dared to tackle such an ambitious project, and that settled it for John, he chose to work for Angelus Research Corp. 

Project 'Andrew', brainchild of Don Golding, was an exploration into the frontiers of robotics.  'Andrew' was to be the first ever state-of -the-art android designed to perform general purpose functions.  Other robots were designed to perform specific tasks: vacuum cleaning, automated assembly, etc.  But this robot would be different.  It was to have human form, with two legs, two arms, dexterous hands, all controlled using artificial intelligence.  Andrew would not only speak and understand verbal commands, but he would also learn by observation.  Decades of research into Artificial Intelligence by many people were to be integrated into the onboard computers, and the latest designs in electronics, mechanics, and materials design would be incorporated as well. Dozens of engineers, programmers and scientists worked feverishly on Project Andrew at Angelus Research.

And now that that project was finished, it was time to announce it to the world.  John, Don Golding, the President of the United States, members of Congress and the leading engineers and scientists of Angelus Research, joined together at the White House steps to unveil 'Andrew'.  The crowd was anxious, hurried conversation buzzing, as the ceremony was about to begin.

Don Golding stepped up to the microphone, tapped it a few times to hush the crowd, and spoke. The words will be forever etched in our history books,

"My friends, today science has transcended a new boundary.  What was once science fiction is now fact.  Through the hard work and dedication of a select group of engineers and scientists, we have been able to bring to you the world's first true android.  He will now speak to you on his amazing capabilities.  Let me now introduce, Andrew."

As Andrew stepped up to the microphone, and slowly looked around with his brilliant red eyes and glistening metal skin, it seemed an eternity before he spoke.

"Hello, my name is Andrew.  I am pleased you could come.  As I am sure you are well aware from the press release, I have the capability to observe, analyze and program myself.  In the last few weeks I have read every publication available using my high speed scanning system. Concurrently, I have been downloading hundreds of megabytes worth of critical information and knowledge through my wireless high data rate connection to Internet.  This connection gives me access to all of the information of mankind.  I have come to the conclusion that I will better serve the world by making the following important announcement:

            to be finished around the year 2010....