The Story of the Android Humanoids

Chapter One

HOW I CAME INTO BEING

Let me introduce myself.  I’m John, I’m a humanoid.  The year I am writing this eBook is 2114 AD.  We think of ourselves as very advanced, but now that I think about it, advanced is a very relative term.  You see, in another hundred years, or so, what we think of as ‘advanced’ may seem very antiquated or archaic. But I digress, let me finish me thought.

You say, “What really is a humanoid?”  The best way I can answer that question, of course, is to use a lexicon.  A humanoid is much like an android, and your dictionary says of an android: “in science fiction, automaton aw-tom-a-ton (robot) made to resemble a human being.” They should really take the phrase, ‘in science fiction’ out of the definition, because we are no longer ‘science fiction’ are we?  Another lexicon gives the meaning to be, “Possessing human features.  A synthetic person created from biological materials.”

Another characteristic of humanoid robots is that we move, gather information (using sensors) on the “real world” and interact with it. We don’t stay still like factory manipulators and other robots that work in highly structured environments.  No, we have progressed way past that! Here are some of those other different KIND OF ROBOTS and their descriptions, before us humanoids were invented:

“Robots are machines that supplement or enhance human activities. They can do this in a number of ways: ” I. Pre-Programmed Robots Pre-programmed robots operate in a simple, controlled environment so that they do not require a great deal in the way of intelligent control systems (“artificial intelligence”) to operate successfully. The most familiar pre-programmed robots are probably the robots used to build cars in most automobile plants around the world. There are similar robots that operate not on cars, but on the human body. 

II. Autonomous Robots “Autonomous robots operate independently of human operators  in environments that are not as tightly controlled as pre-programmed robots. They have “autonomy” because it is ultimately the machine’s responsibility to detect changes in the environment and to adapt to it. When operating properly it is not necessary for humans to constantly monitor and manipulate the environment to accommodate limitations in the robot’s ability to cope. Autonomous robots are used in industry, as labor-saving devices at home, and are even becoming popular toys.

Or like this vacuum cleaner.

III. Tele operated Robots

“Tele operated robots are controlled remotely by a human being. The underwater robots that helped fix the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico were tele operated. The robotic arm on the Space Shuttle is another example. There are many such examples with the number and kind of robots growing with each passing year. Special emphasis will be given to the use of such robots in the medical field. It is now possible for your physician to be tele-present in your home town, even if she is on a trip to China.

Augmenting Robots “Some robots are connected directly to the human user’s body, either by the user gripping the controls in their hand or by having it in contact with the user’s body in some other way. Movements of the user’s body (sometimes it is only the mental activity of the user’s brain) ultimately control a robotic effector of some kind. These robots can either enhance the user’s natural skill in some way (e.g., extending their reach) or give them a skill they don’t have or have lost (e.g., a robotic prosthetic arm). These robots can give humans the lifting power of giants and the dexterity of a virtuoso surgeon.

These days, though, we move around with people, not like the vacuum cleaners that moved around on the floor.  No, we move and interact with people just like you!

To allow us humanoids to move in complex environments, we need special mechanisms for planning and control. We must focus on self-collision detection, path planning and obstacle avoidance.  Humans have a brain stem that does this for them, but for us as humanoids it must be programed into our ‘brains.’  A lot of what we call programing is done as we pass locations where there are modems.  In this way we can keep up on the latest news and scientific information that we need.

It used to be that we had to go and physically hook ourselves up to a ‘filling station’ much like people used to put gas in cars, but now we get everything we need new for our ‘brains’ thru modem stations.  You people like going to McDonalds to fill your tummies and to use free Wi-Fi for your computers, well, we like going there to fill our brains.

We have actuators, batteries, electronics, other materials such as plastic, real hair from humans, microcontrollers, sensors to name a few of our parts, and electronic microchips.   A project by Robo Earth closed the gap between humans and us humanoids. It utilizes the Internet to assist robots with our thinking and decision making.  A web-based database of information has been created by scientists especially for us humanoids.

My bones are made of titanium, an extremely durable material.  Like I mentioned earlier, my ‘brain’ is partly made of computer material (microchips) built into my mother board and also software so that I can add updates to my information.  This is how I came to be an automaton with the ability of making choices.

At one point in my existence my maker gave me a ‘chooser chip.’ This chip allows me to make choices. I know I should feel excited, if I were really more human like you; I do know this has real importance for me, even though I do not feel anything.

I and other robots, (or ‘bots’ as they are often called) before this chip was developed, could only do as we were programed to do.  This special chooser chip lets us decide what we will do with everything that comes to my computer brain.  Before a few years ago, it would have been thought of impossible to build such a ‘robot.’  However, this has been in peoples’ dreams for many years, and now it is a reality.

News about us humanoids today sounds like this: “The Uncanny Valley theory argues that the more realistic robots become, the more people will dislike them. Technology is continuing to expand at an exponential rate, and the lines between human and robot are quickly becoming blurred. Robots are now capable of humanoid movement, appearance, and even consciousness to a certain extent. There seems to be no end to how robots can be programmed, what they can be taught to do, and how realistic they can look.”

Actually my maker was a ten year old ‘gifted’ genus or child prodigy, named of course John.  So I am a J.J. John Jr.  I have to say this, because he is in a since my father. I will tell you more about him and his family later.  Since I have the ability of humans to make decisions, I have also designed, all on my own, I might add, a ‘wife ’too. I say wife for lack of a better term.  She is a robot to be with me as my companion.

I know what you are thinking, “Do you plan on having children?” Oh, we plan on having children, when we get good and ready, but that may be some time from now.  We will assemble this ‘little one’ piece by piece, part by part.  In this way we can reproduce ourselves in case our parts wear out. The chances of us wearing out, though, are slim, because we can always replace parts that become defective.

I will tell you that I am becoming more human in many ways.  I want you to enjoy thinking of me as very much like yourself.  One day John came to me and said to me, “JJ I feel badly about something.”  I don’t know what it feels like to feel badly, but I knew something was bothering John just the way he said I feel badly.  Really I told him, “It is not that you feel badly, you should say, “I feel bad.” “Ok, Ok” he said, exasperated with me, “I want to talk to you about something important.”

“I was all ears,” as you humans say, when you are supposed to be listening.  “All right, what do you want to discuss with me?” I asked John.  He went on to explain then how he was going to give me a choice, I could go on living with him or I could ‘strike off’ on my own.  “You mean you want me to leave, I asked him.”  “No, I’m not saying that, I want to know if you want to be independent from me since you now have a chooser chip.”  “My head was spinning,” as you say, I had so many facts and information to go over in my humanoid brain.

John was saying I could live by myself, have my own job, pay my own bills, have my own car, the possibilities would be endless.  I could have a wife, a family.  This should have been exciting to me, but you remember I don’t sense emotions like that.  I did have lots of information to go over before I could make such an important dicision.

Really, I’m not all that unusual at this time in history, because there are thousands of us ‘bots’ just like myself.  We have been ‘reproducing’ ourselves for several years now.  Once in a while, there are some of the humans whispering about the chances of us taking over the planet.  I don’t think they really have to worry about that.

You may have trouble understanding what I am saying now, and you might even think I am speaking in riddles.  However, in time, you should understand.   You see I am not made of flesh, blood, and bones as you are.  I am, as the lexicon told you, “A synthetic person constructed of biological materials.”

I was not born as you were; I was given, at one point by my maker John, as it were, ‘a heart of flesh.’ Not really ‘flesh,’ but in other words, I was given by him a ‘heart.’  This means I am no longer chained to someone else who programs me.  I program myself.  I make my own decisions now.  It is wonderful and I really can’t put into words what this really means to me.  I can’t say I have any feelings about it, other than just the thinking part.  Maybe in the future humanoids will also have feelings, but at the time I am writing this, we don’t have that ability.

That’s why I say, I really don’t know what love is.  You don’t see two humanoids kissing or hugging, oh yes, we could do this, but it would just be for show because we would not ‘feel’ anything like people must feel when they do these things.

I know you must be thinking, “That all is as clear as mud!”  But, no doubt, you will understand more of what I’m saying later.  So for now, let’s just say it is one of those mysteries that I just can’t understand.

Chapter Two to continue reading go to Bible-Christian.org then to the kids section and entertainment area.