Uncanny Valley - 14/Jul/2012
Arthur thought they might leave him alone. They'd taken the Hollywood Machine. They'd hired a HR professional, now they'd got good employee criteria. He ran Lagrange Recruitment. Rod was in college. Arthur was on a retainer.
Maybe they were afraid he'd work for Stellvia? Fat chance! They'd much better people than him. He'd been shown the dossiers. It'd be fun to work alongside some of them... But, retainer. Then, the latest demand.
They'd found the logistics limits of the Hollywood Machine. Which was partly about how hard it was sensible to ask Mrs O'Hare to work. Arthur wasn't happy about the addictive side of the machine. He hadn't planned it. In fact, he hadn't planned any of it.
Actually, they wanted AIs. The brief was for more attractive women who could run the infrastructure, 24/7. But the skill requirements were quite unreasonable. No, he refused to try and make more 'Angels'. They were a disaster waiting to happen.
Hmm. The trick would be to make them heterogeneous, three different processor architectures running compatible software. That'd give some protection from crude instruction-set specific attacks. He'd need to read some more security stuff.
If the AIs had remote control of humanoid bodies, that'd satisfy the need for 'attractive women'. But, he didn't trust his ability to navigate the Uncanny Valley, never mind manage 'attractive'. Also, with their own bodies they could unplug their processors and leave the station, if they really wanted to. He'd been reading about AI slavery - nasty.
Ms Jones wasn't currently watching him, but he expected she'd want to see all the receipts. He knew some computer recyclers, and he was sure they'd have something good. And, those ex-school RISC PCs he'd tucked away. Then, there was that Mac fanatic, he knew, who'd kept those Power PC boxes, his design firm got rid of. Old x86 boxes would be trivial. Then, he just needed something really weird for emergencies.
Just for fun, he'd put them in colour-coded boxes. Red, white and blue - should be good for even colour-blind technicians. Though, seeing as he expected female staff, much less risk of that. Black for the tenth one. When he'd been poking around in the occult, to get the bits for the Angels, he'd made a few interesting contacts. 'Dave Mathers' he called himself. Mad as a hatter, but a genius at making sane AIs.
Mathers came through, with ten install discs, one per AI, four processor architectures. He'd had the boxes soaking in some special handwavium, left over from the Hollywood Machine project; 'paisley'. He was pretty sure that'd got things going, and his discipline in saving samples of all handwavium strains he'd made paid off. Pity he didn't have the paint mixer any more.
His science fiction friends had filled him in on real world robotics. Air muscles were apparently the thing. Fibre optic fibre meshes for touch and temperature sensors. Medical latex skins for realism. Human hair if you could afford it. But, there was no way he could construct ten humanoid bodies, all with 640+ muscles, on any realistic time-scale.
Hence, the Body Builder. Constructed in his own time, with his own paid-for materials, seeing what happened with the Hollywood Machine. He didn't like it, it scared him. But, he'd built it, and they'd taken it off him.
He fed-in all the raw materials and parts. This was a wonderful example of a waved device doing a complex task that could in theory be done by hand, and not contaminating the result with handwavium. The link from AI cores to remote robot bodies was paired hacked cell/mobile phones, which if he'd got it right were doing all the anti-jamming and hacking tricks possible. Waved Li-on batteries for AI and robot power supplies.
So, he had ten robot bodies, all slightly different, untouched by handwavium. Credible appearance, but still well in the Uncanny Valley. He ran test routines, using a jury-rigged VR system, and fixed the few glitches. But, he was reluctant to boot the AIs.
Brain wave. (No pun.) No handwavium, no mods, so, maybe... Would the Hollywood Machine glamorise them? Worth trying. Ten days later, he had them all ready. Perfect. Maybe not movie-star quality, but better than average.
Apparently didn't even need Mrs O'Hare in the seat, took five minutes each. The rest of the time was shipping and admin. And, reading between the lines, a reluctance to ship them 'back down' to him. Pity he'd kept the AI end of the remote links.
They were now in neat uniforms, presumably morphed versions of the sports wear he'd shipped them in (with underwear, of course!). While he was curious what the underwear might have morphed into, it seemed unwise to check. Their latex flesh looked human, even down to fine hairs on the arms.
Final checks. The VR rig ran even smoother than before, and he couldn't hear even a faint hiss from the compressors. He could see breathing, and when he looked closely, a pulse in the throat. Wait a minute. He hadn't fitted the waved Li-on batteries.
Ah well.
Simultaneous AI Boot!
AI Crew
These are ten humanoid robot bodies capable of running 24/7 with very high quality secure radio links to ten AIs designed to plumb-in to the systems of O'Neill Station. The AIs are in three linked groups of three, with a heterogeneous processor architecture (ARM, PPC, x86) within each group. The tenth AI is a weird non-standard architecture (SEAforth, if you're interested) and in a total emergency, where everything else fails, might keep a minimal system working.
Under normal circumstances any one AI processor from a group of three is capable of running about a third of O'Neill Station's facilities, and which third this is is hard-wired for each group. Normally each triple of processors votes as to what is done, and if voting isn't unanimous then warning alarms start. If one processor crashes and there is a tie, the tenth AI is given control; otherwise the tenth AI only gets control if an entire triple of processors has crashed.
The humanoid robot bodies all resemble attractive young women, and are fully functional in almost all ways: eating, drinking, excreting, bleeding; except they cannot get pregnant and bear (or nurse) children. At core they are hardware, and their bones for example need repair rather than being capable of healing. You'd need an x-ray (or an RF monitor, to spot the link to their AI) to tell they're not human.
The AI link is good for up to 50 miles range, less if there is some shielding which it can't work around (wide band, frequency switching, etc.). Upgrading to a better comms tech, say FTL, would most sensibly involve the AI and robot designer (Arthur). And surgery.
Most of them go about their duties normally, as well-integrated numbers of the crew. All have different appearances and personalities; all have hobbies. The tenth is a roving troubleshooter, and is always poking around looking for problems. She's also a dedicated amateur astronomer.
AI Names
There are ten AI, in three groups of three, plus one. The groups are 'red', 'white', 'blue', and the singleton is 'black'. Each group has a similar appearance, though they vary enough to be sisters, not triplets.
Red:
skin: pale Celtic
hair: red
eyes: blue, green, hazel
Al(pha)
hobby: team sports
Bee (Beta)
hobby: gymnastics
Amma (Gamma)
hobby: martial arts
White:
skin: normal Caucasian
hair: blonde
eyes: blue, green, hazel
Del(ta)
hobby: gambling
Epsi(lon)
hobby: gardening
Eta
hobby: cooking
Blue:
skin: normal Eurasian
hair: brown
eyes: blue, green, hazel
Theta
hobby: medical science
Iota
hobby: micro-technology
Kappa
hobby: oceanography
Black:
skin: dark brown
hair: black
eyes: brown
Zee (Zeta)
hobby: amateur astronomy
If they wanted a surname they could always use "Arthursdottir", but that isn't likely in their files.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
Arthur thought they might leave him alone. They'd taken the Hollywood Machine. They'd hired a HR professional, now they'd got good employee criteria. He ran Lagrange Recruitment. Rod was in college. Arthur was on a retainer.
Maybe they were afraid he'd work for Stellvia? Fat chance! They'd much better people than him. He'd been shown the dossiers. It'd be fun to work alongside some of them... But, retainer. Then, the latest demand.
They'd found the logistics limits of the Hollywood Machine. Which was partly about how hard it was sensible to ask Mrs O'Hare to work. Arthur wasn't happy about the addictive side of the machine. He hadn't planned it. In fact, he hadn't planned any of it.
Actually, they wanted AIs. The brief was for more attractive women who could run the infrastructure, 24/7. But the skill requirements were quite unreasonable. No, he refused to try and make more 'Angels'. They were a disaster waiting to happen.
Hmm. The trick would be to make them heterogeneous, three different processor architectures running compatible software. That'd give some protection from crude instruction-set specific attacks. He'd need to read some more security stuff.
If the AIs had remote control of humanoid bodies, that'd satisfy the need for 'attractive women'. But, he didn't trust his ability to navigate the Uncanny Valley, never mind manage 'attractive'. Also, with their own bodies they could unplug their processors and leave the station, if they really wanted to. He'd been reading about AI slavery - nasty.
Ms Jones wasn't currently watching him, but he expected she'd want to see all the receipts. He knew some computer recyclers, and he was sure they'd have something good. And, those ex-school RISC PCs he'd tucked away. Then, there was that Mac fanatic, he knew, who'd kept those Power PC boxes, his design firm got rid of. Old x86 boxes would be trivial. Then, he just needed something really weird for emergencies.
Just for fun, he'd put them in colour-coded boxes. Red, white and blue - should be good for even colour-blind technicians. Though, seeing as he expected female staff, much less risk of that. Black for the tenth one. When he'd been poking around in the occult, to get the bits for the Angels, he'd made a few interesting contacts. 'Dave Mathers' he called himself. Mad as a hatter, but a genius at making sane AIs.
Mathers came through, with ten install discs, one per AI, four processor architectures. He'd had the boxes soaking in some special handwavium, left over from the Hollywood Machine project; 'paisley'. He was pretty sure that'd got things going, and his discipline in saving samples of all handwavium strains he'd made paid off. Pity he didn't have the paint mixer any more.
His science fiction friends had filled him in on real world robotics. Air muscles were apparently the thing. Fibre optic fibre meshes for touch and temperature sensors. Medical latex skins for realism. Human hair if you could afford it. But, there was no way he could construct ten humanoid bodies, all with 640+ muscles, on any realistic time-scale.
Hence, the Body Builder. Constructed in his own time, with his own paid-for materials, seeing what happened with the Hollywood Machine. He didn't like it, it scared him. But, he'd built it, and they'd taken it off him.
He fed-in all the raw materials and parts. This was a wonderful example of a waved device doing a complex task that could in theory be done by hand, and not contaminating the result with handwavium. The link from AI cores to remote robot bodies was paired hacked cell/mobile phones, which if he'd got it right were doing all the anti-jamming and hacking tricks possible. Waved Li-on batteries for AI and robot power supplies.
So, he had ten robot bodies, all slightly different, untouched by handwavium. Credible appearance, but still well in the Uncanny Valley. He ran test routines, using a jury-rigged VR system, and fixed the few glitches. But, he was reluctant to boot the AIs.
Brain wave. (No pun.) No handwavium, no mods, so, maybe... Would the Hollywood Machine glamorise them? Worth trying. Ten days later, he had them all ready. Perfect. Maybe not movie-star quality, but better than average.
Apparently didn't even need Mrs O'Hare in the seat, took five minutes each. The rest of the time was shipping and admin. And, reading between the lines, a reluctance to ship them 'back down' to him. Pity he'd kept the AI end of the remote links.
They were now in neat uniforms, presumably morphed versions of the sports wear he'd shipped them in (with underwear, of course!). While he was curious what the underwear might have morphed into, it seemed unwise to check. Their latex flesh looked human, even down to fine hairs on the arms.
Final checks. The VR rig ran even smoother than before, and he couldn't hear even a faint hiss from the compressors. He could see breathing, and when he looked closely, a pulse in the throat. Wait a minute. He hadn't fitted the waved Li-on batteries.
Ah well.
Simultaneous AI Boot!
AI Crew
These are ten humanoid robot bodies capable of running 24/7 with very high quality secure radio links to ten AIs designed to plumb-in to the systems of O'Neill Station. The AIs are in three linked groups of three, with a heterogeneous processor architecture (ARM, PPC, x86) within each group. The tenth AI is a weird non-standard architecture (SEAforth, if you're interested) and in a total emergency, where everything else fails, might keep a minimal system working.
Under normal circumstances any one AI processor from a group of three is capable of running about a third of O'Neill Station's facilities, and which third this is is hard-wired for each group. Normally each triple of processors votes as to what is done, and if voting isn't unanimous then warning alarms start. If one processor crashes and there is a tie, the tenth AI is given control; otherwise the tenth AI only gets control if an entire triple of processors has crashed.
The humanoid robot bodies all resemble attractive young women, and are fully functional in almost all ways: eating, drinking, excreting, bleeding; except they cannot get pregnant and bear (or nurse) children. At core they are hardware, and their bones for example need repair rather than being capable of healing. You'd need an x-ray (or an RF monitor, to spot the link to their AI) to tell they're not human.
The AI link is good for up to 50 miles range, less if there is some shielding which it can't work around (wide band, frequency switching, etc.). Upgrading to a better comms tech, say FTL, would most sensibly involve the AI and robot designer (Arthur). And surgery.
Most of them go about their duties normally, as well-integrated numbers of the crew. All have different appearances and personalities; all have hobbies. The tenth is a roving troubleshooter, and is always poking around looking for problems. She's also a dedicated amateur astronomer.
AI Names
There are ten AI, in three groups of three, plus one. The groups are 'red', 'white', 'blue', and the singleton is 'black'. Each group has a similar appearance, though they vary enough to be sisters, not triplets.
Red:
skin: pale Celtic
hair: red
eyes: blue, green, hazel
Al(pha)
hobby: team sports
Bee (Beta)
hobby: gymnastics
Amma (Gamma)
hobby: martial arts
White:
skin: normal Caucasian
hair: blonde
eyes: blue, green, hazel
Del(ta)
hobby: gambling
Epsi(lon)
hobby: gardening
Eta
hobby: cooking
Blue:
skin: normal Eurasian
hair: brown
eyes: blue, green, hazel
Theta
hobby: medical science
Iota
hobby: micro-technology
Kappa
hobby: oceanography
Black:
skin: dark brown
hair: black
eyes: brown
Zee (Zeta)
hobby: amateur astronomy
If they wanted a surname they could always use "Arthursdottir", but that isn't likely in their files.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind