Chapter 251 - 245 Brave_1

B-level Base.

In an open space at a factory building, a nearly 2.1-meter-tall oversized humanoid machine was hoisted to the central position by a crane and lowered onto one of two tandem treadmills.

The robot’s shoulders were suspended by straps, but its anthropomorphic feet touched the treadmill.

Then a person clad in a suit studded with electrodes walked onto the other treadmill. After connecting the cables hanging from above to his back, he moved slightly and then gave the OK sign.

Around him, there were sensors and cameras circling his body, transmitting data to the robot’s computer, just like the sensors on his own body were doing.

The staff immediately powered up the robot. The humanoid machine, which looked almost like a Terminator, had its mini screen on its head light up, and after a series of data flashed by, it stopped and showed no difference from when it was unpowered.

"Zhang Wei, start walking!"

Upon hearing the command, Zhang Wei on the right treadmill hesitated for a moment, then started walking at a normal pace, with the electrodes on his body moving through the air with his movements.

The cameras and body sensors around him captured his movement data from two different directions, transmitting it to the robot and simultaneously displaying a 3D real-time dynamic model on the controllers’ computer screens.

Zhang Wei didn’t deliberately adjust his actions; he just walked easily on the treadmill, his hands also swinging naturally in small motions. After a few minutes, he was instructed to start running fast.

Then came jogging, jumping, spinning in place, crawling, rolling, and other various movements. After over an hour of exertion, Zhang Wei’s forehead began to bead with sweat.

Besides the constant change in motion commands, there were only the infrared cameras and the jumping lights of the laser radars.

Of course, what was also busy was Stellar One, the supercomputer working at full power under heavy air conditioning, located three hundred meters away in a basement three floors underground.

However, what was running at the time wasn’t the base’s artificial intelligence "Mountain and Sea," but a single-entity learning-type robot AI: Brave.

This was the AI model name for the humanoid bionic robot developed jointly by the Microelectronics Department and the Light Machinery Department, named by Xie Liaofu.

Brave, in Russian, can be interpreted as "Valenkin," and it happened that Xie Liaofu had an intimate comrade-in-arms named Valenkin Petrovich Grusko.

Xie Liaofu was deeply impressed by this friend and, therefore, without hesitation, named it Brave in internal naming consultations to honor his dear Valenkin.

"Brave" was the first newly designed self-learning artificial intelligence model prepared for assisting robots, developed by the Microelectronics Department after incorporating SC09 technology.

With as much data as possible fed in during the development phase, it could learn skills autonomously and, once matured, could be loaded into the chip of an individual robot to execute various tasks perfectly.

Now, it had to learn how to walk.

Zhang Wei had repeatedly performed almost every human action before he was finally let off.

This was the first set of individual data that "Brave" had received, and it rapidly learned this data on the Stellar One computer before being granted the control of the Warrior robot.

A dozen researchers and a tired Zhang Wei, who was sitting on the ground, looked anxiously at the Warrior 001 Robot, which had been taken over and given the "command to walk 50 meters on the treadmill."

The moment Warrior 001 was taken over by "Brave," its posture changed: the previously bent leg joints straightened up, and the straps suspending its shoulders immediately slackened.

The two mechanical arms didn’t move in sync, making different gestures as a normal human would, relaxing and slightly spreading their hands and standing steadily in place.

An astonished cry erupted from a researcher, as they had not programmed any walking algorithms. They had only set the basic parameters and parts data for the Warrior Type Robot, allowing the AI to understand its own body.

As for how it moved, whether it walked on two feet like a human, stood upside down, or crawled on all fours like some bizarre creatures, it was all theoretically possible, depending entirely on the AI’s own judgment.

Unsurprisingly, "Brave" chose to learn from the bipedal walking method of the human sample.

Warrior 001 paused for a second or two, then began to move in place; it took a big step forward with its left leg, causing its entire body to lean forward rapidly due to the change in center of gravity.

The Warrior 001 was not light; its 2.1-meter body was solidly filled with various equipment, weighing in at 270kg, and this was after applying certain weight reduction measures.

Its first step had barely begun, and those present had already noticed that the posture was somewhat uncoordinated and stiff. The arms had not moved in time to adjust the center of gravity, and it seemed certain to fall.

Indeed, that was the case. The entire body of Warrior 001 tilted forward, but the straps fixed to its shoulders came into play immediately, tensing up. The slightly elastic straps then caused the robot to suddenly experience a great force, and suddenly there was a tendency to fall backwards.

But "Brave" didn’t wait to stabilize itself under the effect of the straps. Its limbs and the active joints on its body began to flail abruptly, much like a drowning person, clumsily moving its heavy body on the treadmill.

In the eyes of the onlookers, the process from Warrior 001 taking its first step to struggling as it fell only lasted a few seconds. But in those seconds, the researchers who had a deep understanding of artificial intelligence were struck with indescribable shock.

Because "Brave," realizing it was about to fall, tried to correct its posture with astonishing speed. It mobilized all of its movable parts, using sensors spread all over its body and its database, continuously adjusting its center of gravity in an attempt to stabilize, almost with the instinctive speed of a human.

Such batch instruction processing and response speed had far surpassed the achievements of the era.

The manufacturing of robotic technology, including the technology for joints and micro-motors, had actually had the potential to match human performance as far back as the 1970s. Control technology, however, had always been the bottleneck.

Judging by Warrior 001’s performance, if taken outside, it would surely be mistaken for a hoax.

By now, Warrior 001 had barely managed to stabilize itself. Its legs, one in front of the other and askew, supported its weight, while the straps on its shoulders once again became slack. Warrior 001 carefully pulled its legs back in, returning to a ready, standing state, awaiting the next command.

At the same time, the researchers also realized that the reason it had been somewhat stiff when it took the first step was because "Brave" was hesitating, testing whether it could step out like that.

After regaining its balance, Warrior 001 began its task again. This time, it still extended its left leg, but now its hands moved forward and back in synchronization.

Then, to the amazement of everyone watching, with both its left hand and left foot moving forward, Warrior 001 took its second step, achieving it in a way no one had anticipated:

Its right leg bent slightly, dragging its toes across the floor as it moved to the position of the left leg, then both legs stood upright.

Thereafter, much like a person with a disability that affects the right leg, Warrior 001 continued, each time stepping forward with the left hand and left leg roughly one meter apart, slightly leaning to the left, then rigidly drawing the right foot forward to stabilize before starting the next cycle.

With such an odd posture, Warrior 001 began its walk on the treadmill, limping and repeating continuously, perhaps gathering data on its own because by the end, it seemed to have picked up speed a little.

The researchers stood agape, realizing that after trying a successful walk, Warrior 001 simply repeated the process to complete the command, without attempting anything else.

Although this might imply a lack of aspiration to improve, it was clear that Warrior 001 had completed the task assigned to it.