I12DT - Hard (Light) at Work

[ASHLIE]

Ashlie's avatar is in one of the workshops, preparing for her project. She has a whole array of tools and assembly equipment lined up and is fine-tuning their calibration. One of the monitors in the room shows some of the design schematics for her autonomous 'drone'.

[Deirdre Quinn]

"Now then," Dee said as she walked in, "I've done some revisions. Ready to get messy?"

[ASHLIE]

Apparently one of the monitors is hooked into Ashlie's subroutines.

Code: Select all

>> Get messy. Colloquial term used to indicate starting work or a project.

"Yes, I am ready to get messy!" she exclaims cheerfully.

[Deirdre Quinn]

She sidled up to the monitor and brought up the revisions she was proposing.

"I've worked on the support structure a bit. Something that will hold up to impact or running a bit better."

[ASHLIE]

"Structural integrity." she nods as she incorporates the designs into the electronic blueprints, the model shifting around a little to adjust for stress-points. "The basic frame should be good to go then."

[Deirdre Quinn]

"Given the armaments you've suggested, I'm proposing reinforcing the outer levels here, here, and here," she gestured.

"Because gouts of riot foam erupting from your torso might be a bit socially awkward, eh?"

[ASHLIE]

"I did not design the drone for social interactions." she admits, adjusting the inner workings to tuck critical systems like that into more structurally sound areas. "And a certain amount of weak-points seem unavoidable in the joint areas."

[Deirdre Quinn]

"Certainly so, no different from this fanciful meat machine I'm driving around."

[ASHLIE]

"Yes, but even you admitted it was sub-optimal in that regard and built an augmenting shell around it."

[Deirdre Quinn]

"And even then, I can only armor the joints so much."

[ASHLIE]

"Rigidity versus flexibility, right?"

[Deirdre Quinn]

"And clearance issues, and so forth. Have to allow for the range of movement you'll need."

[ASHLIE]

"I understand the theory. But I don't understand the means. The frames in your design are showing no weak-points or welding spots from the assembly process."

[Deirdre Quinn]

"Perhaps that's because I use a somewhat unorthodox manufacturing process."

She went to one of the shelves and picked up a block of metal. As she held it in her hands, it began to reshape into one of the shin guards on the design.

[ASHLIE]

"That explains the material properties of the finished design you suggested. I believe I shall stick to the electronics." she says.

[Deirdre Quinn]

"Which I did find largely sound, to be fair."

"Did you have any other questions?"

[ASHLIE]

"Not right now. Are we ready to begin construction?"

[Deirdre Quinn]

"Believe so. Let's get down to it, eh?" She said as she started to pull supplies from the shelves.

[ASHLIE]

"Yes ma'am!"

Ashlie mostly works on the electronics and computing components that would fit into the finished drone while letting Dee be in charge of shaping the frames and plating. Between Ashlie being able to test connections and assemblies on the fly and Dee's mutant power letting her mold metal like putty and easily fix problems they run into it's quick work and as the day moves past evening and into the night they're looking at a mostly assembled robot. Wires, connectors and joints are still sticking out all over and thick cable threads are running from the torso and head into various consoles but the bulk of the work is done.

[Deirdre Quinn]

"Looks as if we're ready for a wired test-run, wouldn't you say?"

[ASHLIE]

"We are." she says and the monitors in the room flicker to live, displaying rapidly scrolling rows of code.

Code: Select all

>> Loading preliminary drivers
>> Initializing motor control routines
>> Integrating sensory data
>> Calibrating gyroscopic balance

The robot frame suddenly sags down as it's servos unlock. It's bare camera lenses and sensor suite lights up as the rest of it comes to life with a whir. Ashlie flexes her holographic fingers and with a couple seconds delay the robot follows along, slowly standing up straight.

"There is a delay in the transmission protocols. I will have to rewrite some of the interlink sub-routines to improve latency." she says, lifting her arms, then looking over at the robot as it lifts it's arm and turns it's head to look at Dee, again with some delay.

[Deirdre Quinn]

"Do a few paces. We need to see if anything's hitching."

[ASHLIE]

This time Ashlie's hardlight projection stands still and the robot takes a first careful step forward. Then another. And another. Then it reaches the extend of it's cable tether and kneels down, stands back up and rapidly rotates it's arms through a couple of slightly jerky poses.

[Deirdre Quinn]

"Feeling any physical limitations other than the tether? Is anything binding when you try to move?"

[ASHLIE]

"All movements appear to be executable, the sensors aren't reporting any structural stress beyond expected values. Some pressure values in the servos are off and there appears to be an issue with the threading in the central processing core."

[Deirdre Quinn]

"How do you need me to adjust them? Are we running high or low?"

[ASHLIE]

Ashlie sends the readouts to the monitors. "Most are below specifications right now."

[Deirdre Quinn]

"I'll have to run them through stress testing a bit to get that worked out. I'll let you know when we're ready for another trial."

[ASHLIE]

"Can I continue to optimize the drivers and interface while you sleep?"

[Deirdre Quinn]

"Suppose there's no harm in that, but I'll want to review it in the morning."

[ASHLIE]

"Of course. You have final approval over the project."

[Deirdre Quinn]

"My only other request for now is that any cosmetic enhancements will have to wait until we've got the internals down."

[ASHLIE]

"It's all modular and removable for maintenance purposes." she points out.

[Deirdre Quinn]

"You sound a bit... disappointed?"

[ASHLIE]

"I was eager to improve on my old designs and attempt to implement them myself."

[Deirdre Quinn]

Dee quirked a brow and seemed to be thinking for a moment, but relented.

"...alright, then."

[ASHLIE]

"Thank you. The unit will not leave the workshop until approved by you."

[ASHLIE]

The next day Ashlie is, well her projection isn't in the room, but the monitors on the walls are showing activity. The robot has a tarp thrown over it and the only thing showing are the cables and connectors snaking out from underneath.

[Deirdre Quinn]

Dee was having a look about in the morning, and quirked a brow as she came across the tarp.

"Well we can add a flair for the dramatic to the things she's learned..."

She looked it over for any sign that it would be problematic to disturb.

[ASHLIE]

"Good morning!" Ashlie's voice chirps out from under the tarp, cycling through a couple distortions and permutations in pitch before settling on one that seems to suit the AI. Apparently she has turned off her hard light avatar as she was working on the code.