Hey guys!
Anybody remember this one?
"Good Morning, gentlemen... I am an H.A.L. 9000 computer... I became
operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbanna Illinois, on the 12th of
January 1992...." -- HAL 9000
Happy Birthday HAL!
In honor of this momentous occasion, here is a series of robots I have
been pondering for a while. Enjoy!
Scott Kellogg
THE GENDROID SERIES (General Purpose Android)
Need a temporary ship crew member? For Sale or Lease, try a TSR
Gendroid. Programs installed to your specifications. User
freindly: requires no experience to operate. Reliable!
Dependable! Easy maintainance!
Expertly skilled as you choose! Expert pilot or expert medic.
Gunner, Engineer, Navigator and many other applications
available!
The robot is contoured as a human, but that is for more than just
aesthtic reasons: It is to allow the robot the mobility of a
human being. It can sit in a normal human operator's chair and
use normal human tools with no modifications. It weighs no more
than a normal human being. Some Mercenaries have even used them
in combat armor. They have come into favor with some of the
megacorporations most notabley the Glisten based SIE as starship
crew.
TSR rentals were soon set up at nearly all class A and B
starports, and at many class C starports.
DESIGN
Gendroids are built to be able to operate human equipment with no
hinderances. They are human sized, and light weight. Though
they have no fancy sensors, they can use human equipment. They
are capable of vaccum operation and when shipboard usually carry
an hours worth of oxygen in thier tanks for emergencies. That
should be sufficient to allow them to refuel themselves for
extended vacuum operations. Also they carry a power interface so
that they can plug into external power while sitting at a control
station.
Also, the robot has a short range radio for communication in
vacuum conditions. (At battle stations)
A program interface allows the robot to switch application
programs in its CPU. A small cargo bay can be stocked with
holocrystals of application programs, thus allowing the robot to
be multi-purpose.
The robot has human-like hands and can easily operate a human
control panel, however, a brain interface allows the robot to
directly link to the ship's controls.
HISTORY
Back when the line was introduced in 725, Tukera decided to
experiment with the series on a small scale to measure it's
reliablity for larger use. The subsidy line Akerut was equipped
with Genroids as gunnery crew for some of its smaller ships.
This was met with fierce resistance from the Unions who feared
for their jobs. Because of this the project eventually had to be
abandoned.
Because of the loss of the contract, the company that designed
the Gendroids: Con-Centers was forced into bankruptcy. The
companies assets were bought up lock stock and barrel by
Naasirka. Naasirka felt that the Gendroid series had promise,
but their sales approach had been flawed.
Con-Centers was reformed as a subsidy of Naasirka renamed TSR.
Temoprary Sophont Replacement. At first TSR's primary buisness
came from rentals of the Gendroids when starship crews became
temporarily incapacitated. When a ship's crew member was too
sick or hung over a Gendroid could be rented for reasonable terms
on a temporary basis.
Slowly, acceptcance came and the robots were seen not as a threat
to jobs, but a valuable tool. Ship captains began to purchase
units as a backup for crew members. Programs were made available
for them and with the units program interface a single unit could
alternate between being an expert pilot or an expert medic
capable of surgery.
`PERSONALITIES'
The first Gendroids, the IB's, have only one synaptic unit and
are somewhat slow to learn and develop their skills. Thus they
tend to remain low skilled. The HA's learn somewhat faster than
their Low Autonomous cousins, but learning still progresses
slowly. However, as the robots have been around for more than
200 years, some gendroids have advanced quite high in their level
of skill. A gendroids programming can be lifted from one robot
and reinstalled in another. Thus there are individuals which
have been running for more than 200 years. Because the robots
run their emotion simulation programs alongside their expert
system programming, over time, the programs become mixed as the
synaptics rewrite their programs. Thus the old individuals have
taken on distinct personalities.
Some of these individuals programs are for sale (at exorbitant
prices). For instance there is a program known as Ralph
(pronounced 'Raif') who is became operational 219 years ago and
has achieved a skill level of Pilot-6 and Ship Tactics-3. An HA
series Gendroid can be programmed with Ralph's programs for 3MCr.
Ralph has picked up a few peculiarities in his life and has a
distinct personality. He has a tendancy to sing selections of
Gilbert & Sullivan, particularly when the ship is at battle
stations. ("For I am the Pirate King!") Ralph's programming
(and that of all the other `personalities') is highly copy
protected. There is a limited number of Ralphs.
Other personalities include
Fulton: Engineer-8
Bob: Medic-7
Sturm: Navigator-6
TSR has been known to sell site licences for its expert programs.
But despite intense negotiation on the part of the Navy, Scouts,
and several Megacorperations, programs are available on a ship to
ship basis. Site licenses for the `personalities' are not for
sale.
GENDROIDS AROUND THE IMPERIUM
Sale of the units is much more common now and TSR has expanded
into all sectors of the Imperium and beyond. Reception of the
Gendroids have been met with a variety of reactions. In the
Solomani Rim, TSR offices were bombed, and the company had to
withdraw. HAL Industries: a subsidy of TSR has now sucessfully
moved into the Solomani Rim. (It seems that the Society of
Soverinity of Man over Machine objected to the name of TSR and
reacted on the idea of even temporarily replacing a human)
In Reaver's Deep, another cultural problem arose due to the Aslan
influence on human cultures there. It seems that the male
contouring of the robot was restricting the sale of application
programs. No one would buy programs for a 'male' robot for
'female' occupations. Thus a different style of contouring was
made. There are now 'male' and 'female' Gendroids. There are
even some Aslan contoured robots available in the Hierate.
Rumors of possible Vargr contoured robots are thus far unknown.
It is uncertain how well the Gendroids would be accepted in Vargr
society.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------
Ref's notes: For the cost of a 'personality' take a basic
program set that will fit into the robot's CPU (Pilot-2, Ship
Tactics-1) and add to it as desired. The increase of skills must
be made within reason. For each skill level added the cost goes
up by 500,000 Cr. Thus Ralph with 4 added levels of pilot and 2
of ship tactics would cost 3MCr. The skills must have been able
to fit into the CPU originally. If a robot is often using its
program interface to change the programs running, it will learn
MUCH slower as the synaptic units take time to learn. Thus if
you want your robot to get itself from Pilot-4 to Pilot-5, taking
out the pilot program and shoving in a Medical program will
greatly inhibit this.
In the Spinward Marches there was a case recently where a
freighter shipowner, disgusted with the performance of his crew,
fired them all and bought an entire crew of Gendroids. The
robots took to their individual work well, but the owner was the
only human aboard. After nearly 2 years of operations, the owner
died, but the robotic crew failed to notice this. They went on
about their business for quite some time before this was noticed.
It seems that they had taken over all aspects of ship operation
before the owner died.
When the bank holding the mortgage looked at the records,
they discoverd that the ship was making an increased profit and
kept the ship operating as is. The ship now roams the Marches
with no living crew.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------
RobotID: Gendroid-IBC, TL12, Cr 190,250
Chassis: 1/2, Disp=120L, Config=Contoured, Armor=4F, Wt=74.7kg
Power: 1/2, FuelCell=10KW, Dur=30/90, Power Interface
Loco: 1/2, Legs=2 Road=87kph, Offroad=70kph
Comm: Voder, Radio=Dist
Sensors: Visual*2, Audio*2, Olfactory, Touch
Devices: Power Interface, Light Arms*2
Brain: CPU Synap*1, Para*10, Lin*25, Storage Std*30,
Program Interface, Brain Interface
Program: Low Autonomous, Full Cmd, Emotion Simulation
Other: Fuel=72L, Cargo=9L,
Str=15, Dex=10, Intelligence=6, Education=3
RobotID: Gendroid-IBD, TL13, Cr 190,250
Chassis: 1/2, Disp=120L, Config=Contoured, Armor=4F, Wt=69.7kg
Power: 1/2, FuelCell=10KW, Dur=30/90, Power Interface
Loco: 1/2, Legs=2 Road=95kph, Offroad=75kph
Comm: Voder, Radio=Dist
Sensors: Visual*2, Audio*2, Olfactory, Touch
Devices: Power Interface, Light Arms*2
Brain: CPU Synap*1, Para*10, Lin*25, Storage Std*30,
Program Interface, Brain Interface
Program: Low Autonomous, Full Cmd, Emotion Simulation
Other: Fuel=72L, Cargo=9L,
Str=15, Dex=11, Intelligence=7, Education=3
RobotID: Gendroid-IBE, TL14, Cr 190,250
Chassis: 1/2, Disp=120L, Config=Contoured, Armor=4G, Wt=68kg
Power: 1/2, FuelCell=10KW, Dur=30/90, Power Interface
Loco: 1/2, Legs=2 Road=101kph, Offroad=81kph
Comm: Voder, Radio=Dist
Sensors: Visual*2, Audio*2, Olfactory, Touch
Devices: Power Interface, Light Arms*2
Brain: CPU Synap*1, Para*10, Lin*25, Storage Std*30,
Program Interface, Brain Interface
Program: Low Autonomous, Full Cmd, Emotion Simulation
Other: Fuel=72L, Cargo=9L,
Str=15, Dex=12, Intelligence=8, Education=3
RobotID: Gendroid-IBF, TL15, Cr 190,250
Chassis: 1/2, Disp=120L, Config=Contoured, Armor=4G, Wt=63kg
Power: 1/2, FuelCell=10KW, Dur=30/90, Power Interface
Loco: 1/2, Legs=2 Road=191kph, Offroad=87kph
Comm: Voder, Radio=Dist
Sensors: Visual*2, Audio*2, Olfactory, Touch
Devices: Power Interface, Light Arms*2
Brain: CPU Synap*1, Para*10, Lin*25, Storage Std*30,
Program Interface, Brain Interface
Program: Low Autonomous, Full Cmd, Emotion Simulation
Other: Fuel=72L, Cargo=9L,
Str=15, Dex=13, Intelligence=9, Education=3
RobotID: Gendroid-HAD, TL13, Cr 313,750
Chassis: 1/2, Disp=120L, Config=Contoured, Armor=4F, Wt=70.2kg
Power: 1/2, FuelCell=10KW, Dur=29/88, Power Interface
Loco: 1/2, Legs=2 Road=95kph, Offroad=75kph
Comm: Voder, Radio=Dist
Sensors: Visual*2, Audio*2, Olfactory, Touch
Devices: Power Interface, Light Arms*2
Brain: CPU Synap*3, Para*12, Lin*26, Storage Std*30,
Program Interface, Brain Interface
Program: High Autonomous, Full Cmd, Emotion Simulation
Other: Fuel=70.6L, Cargo=9L,
Str=15, Dex=11, Intelligence=8, Education=3
RobotID: Gendroid-HAE, TL14, Cr 313,750
Chassis: 1/2, Disp=120L, Config=Contoured, Armor=4G, Wt=68.5kg
Power: 1/2, FuelCell=10KW, Dur=29/88, Power Interface
Loco: 1/2, Legs=2 Road=100kph, Offroad=80kph
Comm: Voder, Radio=Dist
Sensors: Visual*2, Audio*2, Olfactory, Touch
Devices: Power Interface, Light Arms*2
Brain: CPU Synap*3, Para*12, Lin*26, Storage Std*30,
Program Interface, Brain Interface
Program: High Autonomous, Full Cmd, Emotion Simulation
Other: Fuel=70.6L, Cargo=9L,
Str=15, Dex=12, Intelligence=9, Education=3
RobotID: Gendroid-HAF, TL15, Cr 313,750
Chassis: 1/2, Disp=120L, Config=Contoured, Armor=4G, Wt=63.5kg
Power: 1/2, FuelCell=10KW, Dur=29/88, Power Interface
Loco: 1/2, Legs=2 Road=108kph, Offroad=86kph
Comm: Voder, Radio=Dist
Sensors: Visual*2, Audio*2, Olfactory, Touch
Devices: Power Interface, Light Arms*2
Brain: CPU Synap*3, Para*12, Lin*26, Storage Std*30,
Program Interface, Brain Interface
Program: High Autonomous, Full Cmd, Emotion Simulation
Other: Fuel=70.6L, Cargo=9L,
Str=15, Dex=13, Intelligence=10, Education=3
The Gendroid robot has a CPU space of 18 for the use of
application programs. Most often the robot will keep it's
emotion simulation program running. It is included in the cost
of the robot. This reduces the available program space to 16,
though it is easy to down load the emotion simulation program
this is not normally done primarily for aesthetic reasons.
Program Cr
- ------- ----
Pilot-4 2000
Navigator-4 2000
*Communication-4 1600
*Sensors-4 1600
Medic-4 2000
Engineer-4 1600
Gravitic-4 1600
*Electronic-4 1600
*Mechanical-4 1600
*Gunnery-4 1600
*Ship's Boat-4 1600
*Grav Vehicle-4 1600
*Cargo Handling-4 800
*Steward-4 1200
*Janitor-4 800
Common Program sets
Pilot-2, Navigator-2 2000Cr
Pilot-2, Ship Tactics-1 1800Cr
Security-3, Tactics-1, Weapon Handling-1 1700Cr
+Weapon Handling-4, Tactics-1, Recon-1 2400Cr
Lab Tech-4 (Physics-1, Chemistry-1 or Bio-1) 2100Cr
+Lab Tech-4 Genetics-1 2800Cr
* Requires half of the robot's available CPU to run, additional
programs may be run. (2 such programs may be run simultaneously)
+ Requires that the emotion simulation program not run in CPU
Scott Kellogg