Chapter 273: 3D Printing (Part 1)

He arrived at the foot of the mountain in a few steps, right beside the bushes where the strange sound had come from.

Sun Cheng set the oil drum he was carrying on the ground, shook his hand, picked up a dry branch from the ground, and poked it toward the low shrubbery in front of him.

The next moment, accompanied by a light rustling sound from the bushes, the dense foliage was quickly parted by him, revealing a spider-type robot the size of a house cat, its entire body emitting a metallic luster, hiding inside.

"It really is you..."

Reaching out to grab the metal spider, Sun Cheng couldn't help but frown.

Scout Type 1 Robot!

This was the code name he had given to these little spider-like fellows!

This robot, which looked like a spider at first glance, would only reveal its true nature upon closer inspection: its main body was similar to the cylindrical surveillance cameras common on the market, with an ultra-clear mechanical eye at the front capable of 180-degree adjustment, while the six slender metal joints beneath the main body that allowed it to move freely did indeed look exactly like the monster spiders that often appeared in B-movies.

And it was precisely a creation that Sun Cheng had personally designed and manufactured in the other world!

The Scout Type 1 Robot was a robot with a very simple structural design; truly, very simple.

Its body was made of aluminum alloy with a total weight of only 1,400 grams, and over 95 percent of its parts had no manufacturing difficulty; even the only component with any technical content, that ultra-clear mechanical eye, could be mass-produced industrially.

This crude design, which Atlas and "Huan" could not understand at all, had a very low production cost.

When testing in the other world, Sun Cheng had even managed to compress the cost to around 1,700 USD.

With a low cost of less than 2,000 USD, one could manufacture a robot capable of moving freely within a radius of 500 meters, and even possessing a certain ability to climb walls, buildings, and trees.

It could be predicted that once this mass-producible robot was released, it would surely attract attention from all walks of life.

Holding the robot, which possessed no intelligence and thus offered no resistance, in his hand, Sun Cheng inspected it for a moment before placing it back into the bushes.

"... Still the same, unable to hide from people, poor concealment..."

The poor concealment performance of the Scout Type 1 Robot was probably its greatest flaw.

To control costs, its core used a dual-core processor that Sun Cheng had improved upon after fully scanning the A6 processor used in his own iPhone 5.

Because he had designed it himself, and also for the convenience of manufacturing, the processor Sun Cheng designed for the Scout Type 1 Robot should have exceeded the performance of the A6 and A7 processors, though it might have had a slight gap compared to the Apple A8.

Relying on such a processor to give the Scout Type 1 Robot simple artificial intelligence was simply not feasible.

Don't compare it to how artificial intelligence is portrayed in films and television as if it were easy to achieve; in reality, it simply cannot be taken seriously.

You must know that Xiao Wu had been exposed to the radiation of an AllSpark Fragment and still failed to develop intelligence; it could only rely on the massive database of nearly 4T that Sun Cheng had compiled after erasing its consciousness to achieve a simple, weak artificial intelligence.

He stood up, took one more look at the Scout Type 1 Robot that had hidden back into the bushes and could only be seen as a faint metallic reflection among the leaves, picked up the diesel drum at his side again, and continued walking into the mountain.

Despite the many problems, the cost was what it was, and this was only the most basic model; it was enough!

The Scout Type 1 Robot was clearly not released by Sun Cheng himself.

He quickened his pace and soon arrived at the depths of the valley, in front of the entrance to Base No. 1.

Setting the oil drum he was carrying in his hand down in a cool, shaded spot, he looked around vigilantly and, sure enough, discovered the traces of some more Scout Robots.

Immediately, he walked quickly into the base, and his voice rang out, "Hanwei, did you send the Scout Robots out?"

Almost as soon as Sun Cheng's words fell, he heard a reply from the passage in front of him, "Yes, Master!"

Before long, a Mechanical Beast with a body emitting a metallic luster and shaped like a gray wolf walked slowly out from the passage.

It was Hanwei!

His gaze lingered on it for a moment, but Sun Cheng did not say anything more.

Vengeance and Hanwei were different from ordinary Mechanical Life; they were originally micro-scout bugs attached to the Frenzy Body, and having followed him to be exposed to the radiation of the 【AllSpark】 twice, they had also undergone some mutations themselves.

The most obvious manifestation was that they, along with No. 2 and Frenzy, all possessed high intelligence.

However, when Sun Cheng had previously brought Vengeance and Hanwei back to the real world to protect himself, he had erased their self-awareness for the sake of easy control.

But now it seemed he had underestimated intelligent Mechanical Life; Hanwei appeared to have developed a new self-awareness.

Otherwise, it should not have made arrangements on its own without receiving his orders.

However, Sun Cheng had also left behind many control measures for his real-world self, among which was an early-warning program.

If Hanwei had developed any untoward thoughts toward him, he would certainly know at the first opportunity.

"Let's wait and see for now..."

Sun Cheng was thoughtful; he was also very curious about how the self-awareness and intelligence of Mechanical Life were generated. "This might also provide quite a bit of reference for my experiments in the other world!"

Thinking of this, he did not continue to press the matter, nodded slightly, took a gas mask from his backpack, put it on, and walked into the base.

Before long, Sun Cheng arrived at the main hall of Base No. 1.

Compared to half a month ago, the main hall of Base No. 1 was now basically completed.

Just as he walked out of the passage, two huge shipping containers placed against the walls on the left and right immediately caught his eye; these were exactly what Sun Cheng had brought back from Base No. 2 this time.

On the left, that huge shipping container had already been opened, and it was now empty.

This container had originally held a team of twenty industrial robots, as well as over a hundred Scout Robots.

And on the right, that huge shipping container remained tightly sealed.

"Master, do you need to open it?"

Hanwei, who had changed into a brand-new body, followed closely behind him and, seeing his gaze fall upon that huge shipping container, could not help but ask.

Sun Cheng did not answer it; he walked straight to the shipping container and, after touching the cold body of the big guy—which was two sizes larger than a normal shipping container—for a while,

he walked slowly to a corner at the bottom, took out Xiao Wu, aimed it at a small recess on the container that had only a row of circular sockets, and said, "Xiao Wu, open it!"

The next second, Xiao Wu wobbled, jumped from his palm, completed its transformation in mid-air, and landed on the recess.

Soon, dozens of metal joints of the same thickness extended from its body and inserted into the row of circular sockets around the recess.

Accompanied by a loud, exhaust-like sound, the shipping container suddenly seemed to fall apart; the container body quickly retracted in all directions, and soon the contents inside were revealed.

PS:

1. The idea for the "Scout Type 1 Robot" comes from the movie 【The Machine's Betrayal】!

2. I was out all day yesterday and have to go out again this afternoon, but there should be another chapter when I get back tonight.