Dr. Cecil Walker's 1st Letter to Joyce

Dear Joyce,

So, I've been thinking about the project. Let me run this by you: I think we're going about this backwards. You're talking about, and please correct me if I've gotten it wrong, settling the cannister in a wheelchair to be pushed by a separate voice controlled machine. Is that the current plan?

If it is, wouldn't it make more sense to have a single machine and to include the cannister within it? That would make it far less likely that the cannister and its motive force will be separated accidentally, and it could be far better protected that way, and less subject to accidents.

Also, voice control presents a few problems, starting with the annoyance of a machine that needs to be shouted at constantly, and continuing with the practical details of building a voice control that can do more than detect whether a voice -- let alone -which- voice -- is speaking or not. But, I think that problem suggests a solution.

Jeremiah's voice is, after all, just a result of a normally impossible technology, specifically, a direct electrical connection to a human brain. Since we already have that, we should be able to add a small number of direct outputs. Of course, at first, Jeremiah would be unable to control them directly. But, if you look at the Stratton perceptual adaptation experiments, it seems like the brain can adapt to new configurations of input, and, presumably, output, in as little time as a week. So with the direct output question solved, it seems likely that Jeremiah can learn to control a simple device -- and still continue to be able to speak -- with only a moderate period of adaptation.

What remains is the question of outputs. Clearly, the minimal functional set is three -- left, right, and forward. With just those, Jeremiah will be able to move about and turn, as well as look in various directions.

If he can adapt to more outputs, we can also add "backwards," of course, and maybe "up" and "down" for greater perceptual variation.

Your plan for using legs is possible, of course. As has been demonstrated, we can already construct crude, but functional mechanical legs. While I am somewhat skeptical about their utility, legs will allow Jeremiah to look and feel more human, which might alone be enough to use them. However, what I've read of automatic legs does not fill me with confidence.

The human body's use of legs is surprisingly complicated. Just trying to balance on one foot for an extended period demonstrates this; we cannot even begin to approach this complexity mechanically. A mechanical walker would be very vulnerable to being pushed over, tripping, and otherwise getting stuck (and then there's stairs). Wheels, on the other hand, are proven technology, and far less complicated than feet.

As I said, if I understand correctly, your idea is basically to have a double of a wheelchair and a walker, which I assume is intended to have the former stabilize the latter. And, this provides camouflage, if needed. But, another possibility is for the "walker" to just be a stand alone automaton intended to camouflage the fact that the "wheelchair" is actually moving on its own.

Another approach, if you're more concerned with utility and practicality than camouflage, is to use continuous tracks on the "wheelchair" machine. Continuous tracks are very capable of handling all sorts of terrain--including many stairs. This would give Jeremiah far more freedom of movement. Of course, we could start with a wheelchair-based design and use a continuous track system as an upgrade, or perhaps build it out of the wheelchair's main wheel.

I know there was some talk about adding weapons. I don't know if that's the direction you want to go in (I had the impression that this was more Mr. de Genarra's idea), and I really don't know if that that's a direction Jeremiah wants to go in. But, if you do, weapons are practical, a at a cost of a single input: "fire", or maybe two "deploy" and "fire" to avoid accidents. Of course, reloading will be impossible and the machine will need to be locked in place when firing, but that's not a hard problem, and it's likely we can avoid too many problems with reloading by including a large drum. This presumes that a weapon is desirable in the first place, of course.

Hands are the real unlikeliness. They are too complicated to consider including at this time, although a simplified "grabber" device is possible. It might require too many inputs to be practical; it's hard to tell at this juncture.

What do you think? This isn't exactly either of our usual lines of work, I know.

--Cecil