“When interacting with their children, the Gen5 bots will require a gentle touch, a precise touch. But to deal with the outside world, they will also require power, strength. We knew we couldn’t create both in one rig. So, we engineered a manifold appendage.”
Of all Rho-Z's many parts, her hands seem to garner the most attention from readers—thus the many depictions of hands, both robot and human, that adorn the covers of various editions of the book sold throughout the world! I first had the idea for this “manifold appendage” while watching Sebastian Thrun's on-line lectures in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. Dr. Thrun stressed that not only the programming, but also the materials and the mechanics need to be optimized in order to design safe robots for personal use by humans. I found myself sketching these hands as he spoke—and, writing out lines for my character Sara to recite as she explained her design to James.
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