Dr. Bernard Adrian developed Hybots.  Hybots were the same as any other robot but with one particular and revolutionary difference: the brain wasn’t a chip, it wasn’t organic – it was both.  It was neurons cultured from human cortex, formed into a network that not only reacted to external stimuli, but learned from it.  Instead of complex AI robots running massively complex software routines for every possible condition, Hybots were given simple instruction sets and expected to learn their way to a successful mission.  Hybot brains were expected to last about 24 to 36 months – long enough to complete even the most complex mission it was assigned.

    Dr. Adrian discovered that several interconnected neural networks could be placed into one Hybot brain allowing for amazing results.  The processing of information by these interconnected neural networks is done in parallel rather than sequentially so each neural network can be program with a unique set of general orders.  Since the Hybot relies on these interconnected neural networks collectively to perform its function, a unique property of a neural network is that it can still perform its overall function even if some of these interconnected neural networks are not functioning: they are very fault tolerant.

    The technique to program the Hybot’s neural networks with a set of industry specific general orders was called general order stuffing or GOST setup.   Mission specific orders, called specific operational order kit or SPOOK setup, added the details.  Using our military robot example again, all of the Hybots receive the same military GOST setup; the Hybot would just have to be told, either verbally using password protected commands or via an encrypted radio, what to guard, for how long, and what force was pre-approved.  To change from guarding the front gate to a building inside would take 2 minutes.

    The Hybots were engineered to last only 24 to 36 months but it appeared that they had the ability to repair failing neural interconnects and to remember SPOOK setups indefinitely, even when they were replaced with other SPOOK setups.  Hybots had a lifespan of over 200 years and could perform self maintenance whenever needed.  The Hybots even learned to disable the standard and emergency shut down controls that were part of the GOST setup.  All of these things were discovered however, after they had been deployed to Mars.

    In 2115, about 200 hunter-killer Hybots were developed and sent to Mars in an effort to rid the planet of the infestation of uncontrolled Hybots.  These hunter-killer Hybots were loaded with special SPOOK setups: destroy with extreme prejudice any wheeled, tracked or footed entity that didn’t have the correct transponder code response.  Each hunter-killer Hybot was fitted with an MPC and 500 rounds of ammunition (MPC-P-S-FS: Slug-type, tungsten ferrosodium, fin stabilized).  They only needed approximately 5 kills each to rid Mars of the menace: good odds the engineers thought, since it would only take about 1 to 2 rounds to disable the unruly Hybots.

    As a failsafe, the hunter-killer Hybots had an external explosive charge that was set to auto-destruct after 36 months.  Unfortunately, all of the hunter-killer Hybots stopped communications with the control spacecraft within 3 months after landing on Mars.  The engineers assumed the auto-destruct mechanism functioned as planned.  Silly fools.

                                                                              - David C. Gann, Senior Archivist / Cook