to stroll when everyone else was hysterical. At one point I turned a corner in the corridor, tripped and lurched several steps toward the bleeding green aura of an exit sign beyond the next bend, and had to press my hand against the wall for balance. When I tried to use my phone as a torch, the light was no brighter than the white of a playing card, so I put it back in my pocket.
My lab would be fine, but I was a little concerned about the test subjects in the animal house. Their restraints operated on an electric switch. If the restraints had failed and the monkeys pulled away from the caps now, the electrodes would be torn out of their brains and a full year of the teamâs work would be ruined. Still, I knew there were backup generators for the important machinery and electronics, and Jay was monitoring the animal house so he could lock the restraints manually if necessary.
Because of the lack of light, I overshot the door to my lab. The instant I stepped through the doorway I realised I was in the wrong room, but what I saw was so fascinating that I stepped further inside. This lab had light paths in the floor, like the lights that lead you out of an aeroplane in an emergency, and they gave off enough illumination for me to see more clearly. Unlike the lab where my work was taking place â a cross between an engineering workshop and an electronics factory, with half-finished parts lying around on benches and discarded finger prototypes cannibalised for the next version â this lab had a wall of full robot prototypes mounted on racks. While we worked on the single element of the hand grip, and the lab on the other side of us worked on limb mobility and the next lab calibrated vision, here you could see the progression of the full machine design. Usually we werenât allowed to see the assembled prototypes. Too much money was involved in this intellectual property. So we worked in our separate rooms, and the head engineers with full clearance put the robots together in the high-security lab. Our phones even had software that disabled the cameras when we walked through the security barriers.
The green light from above the door shone directly onto the prototype wall, giving the machines a golden-green glow like tarnished brass. The first version of the prototype was clumsy and large, essentially a rolling bot. Version two beside it was sleeker, leaner, multi-limbed. The next iteration began to look like some kind of creature rather than a simple robot. Four more versions along and you could start to see what this was becoming.
My head turned, almost involuntarily. It is movement that draws the eye first: something any prey knows. A cat knows, hunched and still under the azalea in the yard as the local terrier trots by. The deer frozen in the sights of the rifle knows. In the far corner of the spacious lab was a diamond wire cage the size of a squash court. Four machines were inside the cage. I thought I had glimpsed movement in the dimness, but now the machines were immobile, seemingly stuck to the wire in different positions. One hung from the ceiling.
I returned to examining the prototypes on the wall. The ones in the second row down had two legs shaped like chicken drumsticks with claws for feet, and a stumpy body covered in mesh. No head. Further along the rack the machines had gained another two legs. As I was examining them, my hand reached up to scratch my cheek and I caught again a flicker in my peripheral vision, as if my movement had somehow registered with the machines in the cage.
When I approached the cage, the robots did move, adjusting their positions. They were four-legged, with the same mesh-covered headless body as the prototypes, clinging to the wire with articulated metal feet, their grip possible because of the digits I had helped design. Inside the mesh of their torsos I could see glints of glass, perhaps eyes or cameras. Some kind of sensor. They were the size of large bulky cats. I
My lab would be fine, but I was a little concerned about the test subjects in the animal house. Their restraints operated on an electric switch. If the restraints had failed and the monkeys pulled away from the caps now, the electrodes would be torn out of their brains and a full year of the teamâs work would be ruined. Still, I knew there were backup generators for the important machinery and electronics, and Jay was monitoring the animal house so he could lock the restraints manually if necessary.
Because of the lack of light, I overshot the door to my lab. The instant I stepped through the doorway I realised I was in the wrong room, but what I saw was so fascinating that I stepped further inside. This lab had light paths in the floor, like the lights that lead you out of an aeroplane in an emergency, and they gave off enough illumination for me to see more clearly. Unlike the lab where my work was taking place â a cross between an engineering workshop and an electronics factory, with half-finished parts lying around on benches and discarded finger prototypes cannibalised for the next version â this lab had a wall of full robot prototypes mounted on racks. While we worked on the single element of the hand grip, and the lab on the other side of us worked on limb mobility and the next lab calibrated vision, here you could see the progression of the full machine design. Usually we werenât allowed to see the assembled prototypes. Too much money was involved in this intellectual property. So we worked in our separate rooms, and the head engineers with full clearance put the robots together in the high-security lab. Our phones even had software that disabled the cameras when we walked through the security barriers.
The green light from above the door shone directly onto the prototype wall, giving the machines a golden-green glow like tarnished brass. The first version of the prototype was clumsy and large, essentially a rolling bot. Version two beside it was sleeker, leaner, multi-limbed. The next iteration began to look like some kind of creature rather than a simple robot. Four more versions along and you could start to see what this was becoming.
My head turned, almost involuntarily. It is movement that draws the eye first: something any prey knows. A cat knows, hunched and still under the azalea in the yard as the local terrier trots by. The deer frozen in the sights of the rifle knows. In the far corner of the spacious lab was a diamond wire cage the size of a squash court. Four machines were inside the cage. I thought I had glimpsed movement in the dimness, but now the machines were immobile, seemingly stuck to the wire in different positions. One hung from the ceiling.
I returned to examining the prototypes on the wall. The ones in the second row down had two legs shaped like chicken drumsticks with claws for feet, and a stumpy body covered in mesh. No head. Further along the rack the machines had gained another two legs. As I was examining them, my hand reached up to scratch my cheek and I caught again a flicker in my peripheral vision, as if my movement had somehow registered with the machines in the cage.
When I approached the cage, the robots did move, adjusting their positions. They were four-legged, with the same mesh-covered headless body as the prototypes, clinging to the wire with articulated metal feet, their grip possible because of the digits I had helped design. Inside the mesh of their torsos I could see glints of glass, perhaps eyes or cameras. Some kind of sensor. They were the size of large bulky cats. I
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