Chapter 4
Tadashi took Hiro to his workstation. He rooted through a drawer and held up a roll of duct tape. Hiro sighed. “Hate to break it to you, bro— already been invented.”
Suddenly, Tadashi slapped a piece of the tape on Hiro’s arm. “Hey! What’s your deal?” Hiro asked. Tadashi pointed to a small red suitcase on the ground and yanked the tape off Hiro’s arm.
“Owwww!” Hiro yelled.
A loud BEEP filled the room. The suitcase began to hum, and lights on it blinked to life. The top opened and a white vinyl form began to rise. When it was fully inflated, a huge, puffy figure stepped out of the suitcase.
“Hello, I am Baymax, your personal health-care companion,” it said.
“This is what I’ve been working on,” Tadashi said, gesturing at the robot.
Baymax turned to Hiro. “I was alerted to the need for medical attention when you said ‘Ow.’ What seems to be the trouble?”
Hiro rubbed his arm and snapped, “Sibling abuse.”
“I will scan you now,” Baymax said. “Scan complete. You have a small epidermal abrasion on your forearm.”
“You’ve done some serious coding on this thing, huh?” Hiro asked Tadashi. Even though Hiro was still annoyed at his brother, he was also impressed.
Tadashi walked over to Baymax and removed a chip from his access port. “I programmed him with more than ten thousand medical procedures and a caregiving interface that makes Baymax... Baymax.”
“I suggest an antibacterial spray,” Baymax stated.
Tadashi slid the chip back in. Hiro was impressed. “Vinyl?” he asked.
Tadashi smiled. “I was going for a nonthreatening, huggable kind of thing.”
“Looks like a walking marshmallow.” Hiro said, turning to Baymax. “No offense.”
“I am a robot,” Baymax said as Hiro poked and prodded him. “I cannot be offended.”
Hiro waved his hands in front of Baymax’s eyes. “Hyperspectral cameras?” he asked before pushing his face into Baymax’s stomach. “Titanium skeleton?”
“Carbon-fiber,” Tadashi responded. “He can lift five hundred pounds. He’s gonna help a lot of people.”
Baymax sprayed Hiro’s arm with a disinfectant, then handed him a lollipop. Hiro tasted it and said, “Sugar-free? Bleh.”
“I cannot deactivate until you say you are satisfied with your care.”
“Well, then I am satisfied with my care,” Hiro said. As Baymax deflated and folded neatly back into his red suitcase, a distinguished-looking man with graying hair approached them. It was Professor Callaghan.
“Burning the midnight oil, Mr. Hamada?” the professor asked. Then he looked at Hiro. “You must be Tadashi’s brother. I’ve heard a lot about you. Bot-fighter, right?”
Hiro took his bot out of his pocket and fiddled with it.
Professor Callaghan reached for the bot, asking, “May I?”
Hiro handed it over, and Professor Callaghan studied it for a moment, then smiled. “Magnetic bearing servos—”
“Pretty sick, huh?” Hiro interrupted. “Want to see how I put them together?”
“Hey, genius,” Tadashi said. “He invented them.” Hiro’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped. “You invented ... You’re Robert Callaghan? Like, as in Callaghan’s Law of Robotics?”
Professor Callaghan smiled. “That’s right.” He handed Hiro back his robot. “Have you ever thought about applying here?”
Tadashi said quickly, “Oh, I don’t know. He’s pretty serious about his career in bot-fighting.” Hiro shrugged. “Well, kind of serious.”
“I can see why. With your bot, winning must come easy. And if you like things easy, my program isn’t for you. We push the boundaries of robotics here.” The professor put a hand on Tadashi’s shoulder. “My students go on to shape the future.”
Tadashi began to steer Hiro out the door. “Nice to meet you, Hiro,” Callaghan called to him. “Good luck with the bot fights.”
Hiro’s mind was racing. He wanted to stay and push the boundaries of robotics, too. When they were outside, Tadashi revved up the scooter.
“You getting on?” Tadashi asked.
Hiro started pacing back and forth. “If I don’t go to this nerd school, I’m going to lose my mind. How do I get in?” he asked. Tadashi smiled, happy that Hiro wanted to attend San Fransokyo Tech. Tadashi’s not-so-subtle plan had worked.
第 4 章
泰迪把小宏帶到他自己的工作站。他翻遍抽屜,拿出了一卷布基膠帶。小宏嘆息道:“不想潑你冷水,哥,但這個已經(jīng)有人發(fā)明了。”
冷不防地,泰迪將一段膠帶粘在小宏的胳膊上。“嘿!你干什么?”小宏問道。泰迪指了指地板上的一個紅色小手提箱,隨即猛地從小宏的胳膊上撕下了膠帶。
“嗷!”小宏大呼。
一陣響亮的嗶嗶聲充斥著整個房間。手提箱開始嗶嗶作響,上面的燈閃爍著亮起來。箱子頂部自己打開了,一個白色乙烯基塑料的東西開始膨脹。充氣完成后,一個胖胖的巨大的人形物走出了手提箱。
他介紹道:“你好,我叫大白,你的私人健康顧問”
泰迪指著機器人說:“這就是我一直在研究的東西。”
大白轉向小宏。“你叫‘嗷’時,我就注意到你需要醫(yī)療護理。你怎么了?”
小宏揉搓著他的胳膊,氣沖沖地說道:“兄弟的虐待。”
“我現(xiàn)在要對你進行掃描”大白說。“掃描完畢。你前臂有輕微的表皮擦傷。”
小宏問泰迪道:“你在編程上對這家伙下了不少功夫,對吧?”雖然小宏還在生他哥哥的氣,但他對這項發(fā)明還是很震驚。
泰迪走向大白,從端口處取出一張芯片。“我給他編了一萬多種醫(yī)療程序,還有護理界面,這才使得大白成為……大白。”
“我建議用噴霧消毒。”大白說道。
泰迪把芯片插回去。小宏很震驚。“乙烯基?”他問道。
泰迪笑道:“是啊,我要做成一個無害且惹人喜愛的東西。”
“他看起來就像個會走路的棉花糖。”說完小宏轉向大白:“無意冒犯。”
在小宏戳捅它時,大白回答道:“我是個機器人,你的話不會傷害到我。”
小宏在大白的眼睛前面揮動著自己的雙手。“超光譜鏡頭?”他把自己的臉埋進大白肚子問道:“鈦合金骨架?”
“碳纖維。”泰迪回答道。“他能舉起500磅重物。他能幫助很多人。”
大白給小宏的胳膊上噴了一些消毒劑,然后遞給他一根棒棒糖。小宏吃著棒棒糖說道:“無糖的?不咋地。”
“你不說對我的這次護理感到滿意,我就不能待機。”
小宏說:“好吧,我對這次護理感到很滿意。”在大白放出氣體,整齊地折疊回紅色手提箱后,一位滿頭灰發(fā)、氣質高雅的男士走近了他們。是卡拉漢教授。
“還在點燈熬夜啊,濱田先生?”教授問道。隨后他看向了小宏:“你一定是泰迪的弟弟。我聽說過很多關于你的事情。機器人格斗士,對吧?”
小宏把他的機器人從口袋里拿出來,不停地擺弄著。
卡拉漢教授的手伸向機器人問道:“能給我看看嗎?”
小宏把它遞了過去。卡拉漢教授看了一會兒,然后笑道:“磁性軸承體系”
“非??膳?,對吧?”小宏插嘴道。“想看看我是怎樣把它組裝起來的嗎?”
“嘿,天才,”泰迪說,“那是他發(fā)明的。”小宏目瞪口呆地看著他:“你發(fā)明的……你是羅伯特·卡拉漢?卡拉漢機器人定律的那個卡拉漢?”
卡拉漢教授笑道:“沒錯”。他把機器人還給小宏。“你有沒有想過申請這所學校啊?”
泰迪馬上說道:“哦,我搞不清楚。他可是一門心思投入了機器人格斗事業(yè)。”小宏聳了聳肩:“嗯,算是當回事吧。”
“我知道為什么,有了你的機器人,獲勝不費吹灰之力。如果你喜歡做簡單的事情,那我的項目可不適合你。我們要做的是開創(chuàng)機器人學的新紀元。”教授把一只手放在泰迪的肩上。“我的學生都將塑造未來。”
泰迪正要領著小宏出門,卡拉漢說道:“見到你很高興,小宏。祝你在機器人格斗賽中旗開得勝。”
小宏的大腦急速轉動著。他也想留在這里開創(chuàng)機器人學的新紀元。出了門,泰迪發(fā)動了摩托車。
“上車吧?”泰迪問道。
小宏開始前后踱著步子,“如果我不來這所書呆子學校,我一定會發(fā)瘋的。我怎么才能被錄取?”他問道。泰迪笑了,很高興小宏想要進舊金山理工大學讀書。泰迪不算精妙的計劃起作用了。