fandomhigh | Introduction to Robotics, Friday

A classroom full of teenagers. That was going to be... something.

Kaidan stood at the front of the class, a datapad in his hand and his eyes trained on the students. "Good morning," he said, "And welcome to Introduction to Robotics. I'm Lieutenant Commander Kaidan Alenko of the Systems Alliance, I look forward to meeting the rest of you." He cleared his throat. "Over the past year, my... universe--" It was weird, okay? "--suffered under an attack that involved advanced robotic AIs - that's artificial intelligences - called the geth. Much has been said about the geth and what level of sentience they've got. It's something we'll be talking about later down the line."

He put the datapad down on the desk. "But not yet. I'm given to understand most folks here aren't from the same place, though," he said, "and as we're going to be talking about advanced technology, I'd like to know where your worlds are at, and what experience you might have had in dealing with robotics, virtual intelligences, things like that. So let's start off there."

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Robotically.

As that's what they are.

Name, class, the level of technology your universe is currently at, and your own experience with robotics and virtual or artificial intelligences.

"Now we've gotten that out of the way," Kaidan continued, "We'll be talking about what we're going to be doing here in this class. It's a workshop, so I'm putting you all to work - by the end of this class, we'll all have built either a small drone, or... figured out a lot of ways in which robotic drones won't work."

He smiled briefly.

"You'll find your blueprints sitting at the side of your desk," he said. "Today, I'd just like you to study them."

"Drones are one of the simplest and yet most versatile of robots currently in use in the field," he said. "Some form of drone has been in use for hundreds of years by my time. They don't run on any kind of intelligence - at best, they run on simple scripts. They can be used in non-critical roles, such as for routine patrols, reconnaissance, jammers and electronic information-gathering. Basically, we built them to take the heat off human soldiers. In civilian life, they have been adapted for use by, say, the police, who equip them with powerful lights and other non-lethal measures to subdue suspects."

He looked around the class. "What they're not good for is open warfare," he said, "so don't even think about building guns or programming it to shoot anything up. These schematics are strictly for unarmed patrol drones." He cleared his throat again.

Edited 2012-07-06 08:08 (UTC)

It's all about the drones.

If you need to, he's there.

Still looking for one TA! If you're either the already-chosen TA or someone with designs, ping Kaidan's talk-to thread.

Have a tribute/fanmix of musical themes throughout the Mass Effect franchise which I swear encapsulate the entire damn universe:

Also, since this is my media-pimping block apparently, I've been watching this Dutch docu-series about Challenge Day on Dutch schools called 'Over de Streep'. It's seriously moving, and someone actually went to the trouble of subtitling the first season in English. So, y'know.

Now have the ;.; Kaidan icon.

Lex Luthor

Topher Brink

"Lex Luthor, senior. My universe is about fifteen years behind this one, give or take." You never knew what was being developed by some off-books labs, after all. "We haven't reached the point of artificial intelligences outside of science fiction yet."

"Topher Brink, junior," Topher said. "My world's tech is just about where this world's tech is, except maybe a little better 'cause it has me in it." He smirked. "And my friend and I are building an AI. So."

Lex studied his blueprints closely. Backwards engineered patents were the gift that kept giving after all.

"So that would be--" Kaidan made a quick calculation in his head, "--the nineteen nineties? The age of the microchip. Huh."

Topher was having entirely too much fun with the schematics he was looking at. Entirely too much.

Though after a while of studying the designs, he did have a comment. And a page full of annotated schematics to go with it.

"Could they be smaller?" he asked, handing his work over to Kaidan. "They seem kind of... noticable."

Kaidan frowned at him. "You're building an AI?" he said. "That's... I think you're thinking of a VI. Right. Your time doesn't know the distinction yet."

"They're supposed to be noticeable," Kaidan pointed out. "They're patrol drones, not reconnaissance."

Though as he spoke, he was leaning over the annotated schematics; by the time he was done, the expression on his face could be best described as 'geeking out'.

"Ninety-six," Lex confirmed. "No, it'd be ninety-seven now."

"Uh, no." Sorry, Kaidan. "Building, coding, whatever you want to call it. It's not that far along yet, but yeah. AI."

"Yeah, but you never know what they might find during a patrol," Topher pointed out. "In which case it'd be good to have the advantage of not being seen."

"Maybe, but it also limits the strength of the armor, as well as the size of the weapons," Kaidan pointed out. "Still, this is... this is not bad."

"An AI is a sentient robotic intelligence," Kaidan pointed out. "Completely independent-- and dangerous. Never mind incredibly complicated."

"Well, I don't think the fundamentals of what we're doing here are going to be that hard to grasp," Kaidan noted. "I might have to fill you in on mass effect technology next week, though."

"I know." Real modest, Topher. "But if you wanted to max out the weapons and armor and still keep them from being seen, you could do something else, like program them to seek out cover immediately or make the armor out of some kind of reflective panels that sort of camouflage them. Or you could keep them small, but set up a backup line of drones to come in if the first ones flag any danger."

And now he was just showing off.

"Yup."

He was aware of this, yes.

"We're thinking of making it British."

"That's not a very good idea," Kaidan said tactfully. "Stick with VIs. They're easier to control."

Page 1 of 5

Introduction to Robotics, Friday

Sign In

Listen to the Opening Statements

Introduce Yourself

Listen to the Lecture Mark 2

Check Your Schematics

Talk to the Teacher

OOC

Re: Sign In

Re: Sign In

Re: Introduce Yourself

Re: Introduce Yourself

Re: Check Your Schematics

Re: Introduce Yourself

Re: Talk to the Teacher

Re: Introduce Yourself

Re: Talk to the Teacher

Re: Introduce Yourself

Re: Introduce Yourself

Re: Talk to the Teacher

Re: Talk to the Teacher

Re: Introduce Yourself

Re: Introduce Yourself

Re: Talk to the Teacher

Re: Introduce Yourself

Re: Introduce Yourself