The Robots Fate & Future Projects

The Week after Ashiro officially joined the Robotics Club the entire club assembles in the clubroom to discuss two important matters.

Lisa sits at the head of the table looking at everyone with a deathly serious look as she says “Everyone, this is THE Most Important issue facing us today…”

Everyone looks at Lisa like they’re expecting an earth shattering announcement as Lisa continues “We have three offers on the table to buy the design for our robot, its prototypes, and the equipment we have made to make it easier to operate.”

Everyone looks at her like they’re just waiting for her marching orders Lisa looks at Ashiro and says “Ashiro, how’s the software front looking, specifically, is the app for controlling the Robot finished yet?”

Ashiro stands up and brings up a pair of pie charts on her laptop and shows it to the others and says “I’ve completed the App, took me three all nighters but I got it done, the Overhaul of the Clubs software is 79% done, I need a few more days to finish it though.”

Lisa Nods affirmatively before looking at the Pie Charts and asks “What’s the breakdown of the charts?”

“The left is the before upgrade efficiency of the Clubs Software and the right is the after upgrade efficiency of the Clubs Software.” Ashiro states as she points to the different Pie Charts showing the 57% increase in capabilities before saying “Once I’m done we’ll be able to control our robots from anywhere on the planet via public signal sources as well as radio controllers.”

Everyone looks at Ashiro completely impressed by the dramatic improvement in their capabilities while imagining the things they could create with such advanced software.

Alison giggles maniacally before saying “If we can now use Long Range Signal Types then I can definitely work with that, you know what I mean right Mary?”

Mary laughs before smiling affirmatively at Alison and saying “If you can design a carrier I can make signal relays that can increase our control signal range as far as we need.”

“I can design the carriers no problem, the issue is long haul run times with our current capabilities.” Alison states in response to Mary’s implied question of Alison’s ability to come up with something that works.

Sighs after hearing everything that’s been said and says “I can’t honestly say I can make the kinds of robots we’d need to mount the range extenders on, not like we’re a ‘Rocket Science Club’ or I’d be able to put together satellites.”

Lisa laughs at Jean’s joke before saying “We can work on something suitable later, until then worry more about the immediate issue of our Robot having a bunch of purchase offers.”

“We’ve finished all the prep work, at this point it’s just choosing a buyer.” Alison states as Jean, Mary and Ashiro all nod affirmatively to Alison’s statement.

Lisa puts her laptop on the table and pulls up a list of people who are currently interested in the Robot and says “We’ve got lots of interest, even Amazon are interested if we can install a barcode and QR reader function that networks with their inventory systems.”

After looking over the offers Jean says “UPS and dpd’s offers are pretty good, but I’m not sure about turning down Amazon, they might buy some of our airborne designs.”

Alison looks at Jean disapprovingly as she says “That’d never work, we’d need either a ridiculously big battery or some kind of power generator to make such designs work.”

Jean looks at her in surprise as she answers “Seriously? You can’t just do what they do with Military Drones?”

Alison lets out a heavy sigh before looking seriously at everyone in the room as she says “I couldn’t do that either, even if I knew what they do and it wasn’t illegal to use without their permission it’d not work.”

Alison pulls out her tablet and shows everyone a picture of a Military Drone from a DeClassified File on older drones that are no longer combat relevant and says “Look at the size of this thing next to a human, it’s practically the size of a real plane, it also probably has a huge and heavy battery and also probably self charges while running.”

Alison flicks the picture away replacing it with a design she came up with for a theoretical drone but covered in notations about the issues she can’t overcome and continues “If we could overcome the issues of power supply VS Flight Time without resorting to Fossil Fuels we’ll never get a working model as Balloons ballast is too clumsy.”

Lisa sighs at the explanation of the issue from Alison before putting away her laptop calmly and saying “For now we’ll shelve the issue of flying robots, we’ll worry about them when we can make small scale mechs or the battery issue is resolved, anything else?”

Everyone remains quiet in response to the question due to having no other matters to discuss.

After confirming everyone hasn’t got more to say Lisa brings up the top three offers to purchase the robot on her computer and says “Amazon, UPS and DPD are our three best options, if you’ve read the PDF’s I sent all of you then please state your vote, first, Amazon.”

Jean, Alison and Mary raise their hands for Amazon but Ashiro does not for some reason.

“Votes for DPD?” Lisa states after witnessing everyone's initial votes realising it wasn’t unanimous.

Jean, Mary and Ashiro raise their hands for DPD but for some reason Alison doesn’t.

Lisa takes note of who didn’t vote for DPD and says “The final option is UPS.”

Alison, Mary Jean and Ashiro all raise their hands as does Lisa, at which point Lisa says “Then it’s unanimous, we’ll be selling the Robot to UPS.”

Lisa walks over to the robot and begins to rub it with her hand as she says “With that decided your new home will be ready for you soon.”

“So we’re selling the prototype and the design to UPS?” Ashiro asks curious about the details of the plan before continuing “Are we getting a fixed payout or royalties over a given period?”

“We’ll get royalties over a given period, it’s how clubs like ours fund themselves as the school can only part fund us.” Alison tells Ashiro in response to her question before saying “Since you’re formerly from the Computer Club you wouldn’t know that about crafting clubs like ours.”

Lisa looks at them and giggles slightly before saying “You should quit playing games Ashiro, I know you read the PDF because of the read notification in the PDF.”

Ashiro laughs before looking at Lisa clearly impressed that Lisa actually called her out on that so casually and says “You got me, though I was only joking with you because it was fun to be underestimated.”

Lisa looks at Ashiro sharply before asking “Exactly how high is your IQ Ashiro?”

Ashiro’s eyes suddenly look ominously sharp for a moment before she giggles and replies “My score was measured a while back but it couldn’t be placed on the scale, they said it was at least 800 but probably higher.”

Everyone in the room looks at her completely and utterly stunned by what they just heard before Lisa looks at Ashiro and says “That isn’t a joke is it?”

“No, it’s the unvarnished truth, my whole immediate family have ridiculous intelligence too.” Ashiro replies calmly before saying “One of my immediate relatives is a Ninja and another is an Engineer and Shaman, one’s even an inventor, a distant Aunt is even a Scientist.”

Lisa and the others look at Ashiro completely dumbfounded for a moment before Lisa signs and says “Not like we didn’t know we were an organisation of weirdos and oddballs.”

Jean and Alison both laugh as Mary says “You’re right, we’re a collection of some of the school’s most unique students!”

“By the way, if we’re ever planning to build flying Robots we need a Wind Tunnel for Aerodynamics testing, do we have one?” Ashiro asks, curious about the availability of such a tool.

As soon as they hear her question everyone looks like they just realised they needed one but don’t have one before Lisa replies “We’ll make the acquisition of one our top priority.”

Alison looks at her phone shocked before saying “Umm, I don’t think that’ll work, it costs £13 Million to £26 Million to build a Wind Tunnel according to the internet!”

Everyone looks completely stunned by the sheer cost of a Wind Tunnel before Ashiro looks at them and says “That might not necessarily be the case, the internet isn’t always accurate and those estimates are probably based on averages derived from scale and material costs.”

Jean nods in response having seen the logic and reason behind Ashiro’s statement and says “I agree, we should at least find out how much it will cost to make one the size we’d actually need before we write it off.”

“Any idea where we’ll get the design for such a thing if the internet is no good?” Lisa asks as she looks at everyone.

Everyone except Ashiro looks like they’re totally clueless as to what to do about it if they have no way to get the design for the wind tunnel online before Ashiro sighs and says “Guess you guys haven’t heard, the Former Science Club has a genius prodigy who doesn’t have a Club at this time, you could recruit that person.”

Lisa looks at Ashiro surprised that she knew of someone she’d never heard of before and asks “How exactly did you know about this person?”

“Because the Computer Club President was keeping tabs on the RCD Club and they cherry picked members of the Science Club among others” Ashiro replies with a mischievous look as she continues “I also may have peaked at her secret little black book of noteworthy people around the school.”

Lisa sighs and puts her hand on her forehead as she says “Guess that makes sense given what happened the other day.”

“I’ll look into the issue of the person Ashiro mentioned later, in the meantime does anyone know of a contest we can shoot for next?” Lisa asks while looking at the group seriously.

Alison, Jean and Ashiro look at her with no options in mind while trying to come up with one when Mary says “I heard that there’s an upcoming contest in a few months for underwater salvage and work bots.”

“Underwater robots require watertight hulls, that’ll be difficult to achieve but we could test our prototypes in the School Pool at least.” Jean states after thinking about the viability of a Submersible Robot.

Realising that a Submersible Robot might be a worthwhile challenge Alison looks through the reference material on her tablet and looks over several existing designs as well as designs for fictional submersible Robots, Drones and Mechs before saying “I think that’s actually a good idea, not only are there lots of sunken wrecks out there but there’s also repair and maintenance work normally done in drydocks.”

Lisa takes everyone’s opinion into consideration before saying “Then we’ll see if we can make a viable Submersible Robot before we work on making it fit for purpose, even if it doesn’t make it to the contest it will likely find a buyer.”

Mary looks at Lisa pleased to hear what they said before bringing up the details of the contest on her phone and saying “I looked up the details of the contest after the last contest, I figured it’d be right up our alley, though, making the tools work underwater will be difficult.”

Alison and Jean both nod in agreement after hearing what Mary said about the underwater tools.

Lisa lets out a sigh before looking through the details Mary brought up on her phone and thinks “If we go for this one the results may be enough to make that Student Council President eat dirt, though we’d need to take first place in this one.”

“If we do make a submersible then that Former Science Club Member could be of help with some of the design elements.” Ashiro states calmly with a sharp look in her eyes.

Mary looks at her realising she might be right about some of the elements of the design she isn’t able to handle without help and says “I can find a lot of stuff on the internet about making the kinds of tools we need that work underwater but a Scientist would help a lot.”

“Then if everyone is done discussing then Jean and Mary get the robot ready to ship, Alison and Ashiro, you two begin designing the Submersible Robot.” Lisa states loud and clear for everyone so they know their roles and tasks for the day before saying “I’ll get the paperwork and coordination with UPS done.”

Everyone nods and begin working on their tasks done Lisa walks over to her computer and sends the ready made draft emails to UPS, Amazon and DPD informing them of the clubs decision as she thinks “I was actually worried we’d not find a buyer for this Robot and end up having to recycle it for parts.”

“If that’s happened I’d have gone through a box of tissues wiping my tears when no one was watching.” Lisa continues to think as she brings up the email address of the Minibus Hire Company they used before and begins writing an email to them to arrange a date and time pending rental.

While Lisa handles the Paperwork, Jean and Mary move and the Robot onto a suitable pallet and secure it as Jean thinks “I put a lot of effort and work into the construction of this Machine, I’m proud it will be serving a worthy purpose but I’m still sad to see it go.”

While helping Jean load the Modules and Equipment Station onto their own pallets Mary looks over the various moving parts she put together as she thinks “These moving parts, the Hydraulics and Pneumatics took a lot of haggling for the parts, not to mention putting it all together.”

“I think I really grew on this one.” Mary continues as she finishes strapping down the mods and equipment station before she and Jean cover them with Vinyl protective sheets.

While Alison works on the design proposals for the Submersible Robot she accidentally flicks onto the design for the Robot they’re going to sell and thinks “I really put my all into the design and functions of this robot.”

“It’s some of my best work, I’ll put everything I learned into this new one and those that come after.” Alison continues as she flicks away the design while looking for her reference “This Submersible Design will be a whole new beast, it’ll need to be watertight and deep water depth safe to be serviceable and fit for purpose.”

As Ashiro helps Alison by finding new reference materials in the form of pictures, designs, schematics and declassified blueprints of WWII Submersibles she thinks “If I tried searching for these without specific search terms and knowing where specifically to look it could take days to find anything useful.”

After passing the gathered materials over to Alison, Ashiro takes a few minutes to quickly look over the sensor and control software of other submersible vehicles as she thinks “I wasn’t able to do a lot for the Club while still in the computer club, at least not unless you count hacking those thieves Lorry’s Electronic Brain.”

“This time I’m going to construct a bottom up operating system from scratch that’ll blow away anything commercial.” Ashiro thinks as she looks over the code for a sonar systems on a commercial submersible work vehicle before switching to looking at its movement control software as she thinks “I’ll definitely need to make the controls on this robot easy to move and control with precision, though I can probably radically increase the sensor accuracy.”

After readying the Robot for transport Mary and Jean walk over to Alison and Ashiro at which point Jean asks “Can we be of any help here?”

Alison looks at Jean and says “I need your help Jean, I could use your input on the frame and hull design, I’m not sure if what I have can hold up in deep water as is.”

Hearing what was said Ashiro looks up from her screen at them and says “You will need to find a way to make it good for at least 1.5 kilometres depth at least if you’re trying to compete with the military, though the Atlantic and Pacific go deeper than that.”

Alison looks at Ashiro surprised she knew such specifics of such things and asks “How did you know something like that?”

Ashiro giggles for a moment and replies “I read it in the data I sent you earlier.”

Alison looks over the data she’d been too busy to notice and says “Your right, this data you got off of Google does say that.”

Jean looks at Alison calmly as she says “Making something that can withstand extreme depths like those of the Pacific and Atlantic might be asking a bit much but I can try.”

Alison nods in agreement and says “We’d be going for a world record breaking submersible if we made something that can go to such an extreme depth.”

“Let me take a look at what you have and I’ll see what I can come up with.” Jean says as she sits down next to Alison ready to help improve the design.

Jean looks over the design and makes suggestions for improvements saying “Might want to make the frame more robust here, here and here, the attachment points for the arms would be better here.”

“We can worry more about the propulsion when Mary has a chance to weigh in and we’ve done some research on the options.” Jean continues pointing at the area reserved for the Propulsion Systems.

Alison nods in agreement to each suggestion and adds notations about them to the design so she can add them later before saying “You’re right about the propulsion system, I’m not sure if Screw, Water Jet, some other system or a hybrid system of some kind would be best.”

While Alison and Jean discuss the structural issues Mary and Ashiro talk about the issues of their own.

“I can pretty much make the interface and operating system compatible with any manipulators, tools and limbs you want” Ashiro states while looking at the various examples Mary shows her then shows Mary the Sonar and other sensor systems and saying “The bigger issue is making our sensors stand out from the crowd, if you can make them super sensitive I can make the most of their potential.”

Mary looks over the designs of the example sensors curiously and says “They look fairly simple in terms of the electronic principles they use.”

“Putting them together shouldn’t be any harder than rebuilding the motherboard of a CB Radio.” Mary states as she takes a seat and says “Can you send over the data to me? Once I study them I can probably make better versions myself with a better understanding of them.”

“It needs to be well above average to get the kind of detection range I have in mind, think you can manage that?” Ashiro asks curiously as she looks at Mary.

Mary looks back with a serious look as she replies “I’ll give it my best shot, but we may need help to make it more powerful and sensitive.”

“I ask no more than what you’re able.” Ashiro replies calmly before continuing to look up useful information on Submersibles.

After finishing her paperwork Lisa walks over to them and explains “I’ve finished the arrangements for the sale of the Robot, we’ll be making delivery tomorrow around 3:30pm and they’ll hand us a check for the upfront payment, how are things here?”

Alison looks at Lisa calmly over her tablet as she says “I’ve got a good start on the prototype full and frame design, once I’m done Jean should be able to make a working version we can test.”

“Excellent, let me know when you need it and I’ll pull strings to borrow the school pool for the tests.” Lisa replies with a pleased and excited look before she looks at Mary and Ashiro and asks “How about your end?”

“I can make the software work for anything that can actually function, I’ll also find any reference data you need, just name it.” Ashiro states with an extremely confident look.

Mary looks over the top of her tablet as she researches the sensors Ashiro previously asked about and states “For my part, I think I can make the sensors we need for this Submersible Robot, I have no doubt about the other parts though.”

Lisa grins excitedly as she looks back at Mary over the top of her tablet as she says “Truly next level work Mary, you and Ashiro are one killer combination, when you’re ready to begin work send me a ballpark amount and I’ll give you a budget.”

Lisa looks at everyone working away before checking her watch and seeing that there’s still some time for club hours and looks at Ashiro before asking “Can I ask you something, do you have the name and face of this genius from the late Science Club?”

Ashiro just giggles slightly still working on her computer before saying “Snowball, Send.”

The moment Ashiro says “Snowball, Send.” Lisa’s phone pings and when she looks at her phone she sees a message from Ashiro on the clubs Messenger App with a picture of the person Ashiro told her about as well as their name.

After seeing the message Lisa laughs in an awkward and taken aback manor before saying “I’m not sure which I find more surprising, the fact you had that ready for me on request or you using Snowball as your phone’s voice wake word.”

Ashiro laughs hard enough that anyone in the hall probably heard it before saying “I picked it because I like Overwatch and Mei that much.”

Lisa takes her que to walk away after hearing such a massive laugh come out of Ashiro’s mouth leaving the Club Workshop promptly.

As soon as she’s out of the Club Workshop Lisa places her hand against a nearby wall as she thinks “That was rather unexpected, I knew she was excitable but to think she had lungs like that.”

After pulling herself together Lisa looks at the map of the school in schools student handbook app and finds where the Science Lab is and starts walking in the direction of the main building as she thinks “Her lung capacity aside I owe Ashiro big for this one, with a name and picture I can find this person a lot easier.”

As Lisa walks through the Club Workshop wing toward the adjoining corridor for the main building she notices she’s being followed by someone.

While walking to the main building Lisa walks into the Student Store thinking “I need to get eyes on whoever is following me, can’t have a stalker when the club is under a microscope.”

A few seconds after Lisa walks into the Student Store a member of the RCD Club walks in as Lisa watches from the refrigerator isle using the reflection of the person following her on a can of Irn-Bru as she thinks “So they’re behind this stunt…”

Lisa takes the Irn-Bru can with her after closing the refrigerator door and walking over to the books section and picks up a copy of the latest issue of the Beano Comic before opening the pages wide enough the security tag falls out and palming it before putting the book down and instead picking up a translated copy of Weekly Shonen Jump and walking toward the tills.

As Lisa deliberately passes the RCD Club Member she slips the palmed security tag into their pocket before going to the till and paying for her Irn-Bru and Weekly Shonen Jump before walking out of the Student Store.

As soon as she’s turning the first corner into the main building Lisa hears the sound of the Student Stores security sensors going off as the RCD Club Member tries to follow her out of the store as she thinks “That should lose my second shadow long enough I can try and meet this person Ashiro told me about.”

Once she gets to the first floor (Second floor outside the UK) Lisa sees the schools main science lab right in front of her right next door to the Iona Unit Class Room as she thinks “If what Ashiro said in the message is correct I can find the person she told me about in the Science Lab, better brace myself for this one.”

Lisa approaches the door to the Science Lab calm on the surface but underneath her heart pounding with a complex mix of feelings due to the crazy that’s happened after her confrontation with the Student Council President, raises her hand ready to knock on the door and…

To Be Continued