The Biz(Home Run Edition)

Chapter 1: Hollywood

Chapter One: Alone in the Universe

Captain’s Log: August 20, 1993—Day One Thousand Four Hundred.

I have not eaten or slept in almost four years. It is very cold and there is no oxygen to breathe. But I continue to press on. My last contact with a human was before the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989. I am totally alone in outer space. No one sends me any news. No one calls to say hello. I have absolutely nobody to talk to. I am so very bored.

Captain’s Log: August 28, 1993—Day One Thousand Four Hundred Eight.

Finally, I had some excitement today. I took a close-up picture of a giant asteroid! The photo was the very first of its kind in the history of the world. Isn’t that amazing? It’s hard to photograph an asteroid because it moves so fast. (Some of them can travel up to 100,000 miles per hour.) Still, I managed to get one clean shot of it—wow!

After I took the photo, I sent it by satellite down to Earth. My picture showed that the asteroid was over 35 miles long. It’s so big that it actually has its own tiny moon spinning around it. The scientists safe on Earth got to name my asteroid (even though I’m the one who put myself at risk to get the photo). They named it Ida. Personally, I would have named it Gigantor Supreme, but I won’t complain. I never complain. I just do what I’m told.

Captain’s Log: August 29, 1993—Day One Thousand Four Hundred Nine.

I’m still so bored. There is nothing to do. I don’t have a book or even a deck of cards. There is no television. I still haven’t eaten or slept, but I’m not hungry or tired. I continue to press on—all I do is press on.

My next stop is Jupiter. The scientists are sending me on a suicide mission. I will throw myself into Jupiter’s atmosphere. Once there, I will be crushed into millions of tiny bits. That’s because I’ll experience forces of gravity over 350 times stronger than those of Earth. Don’t worry, I’m not scared. I will always do what I’m told. I will never get angry, frustrated, or worried. And I will never complain.

What kind of creature can live without air, food, sleep, and companionship for years on end? What sort of thing would follow every order, never asking a single question? Even when it is told to sacrifice itself?

Although the Captain’s Log you just read is made up, the events in it really did happen. An explorer was launched into space on October 18, 1989. The explorer really did snap pictures of an asteroid over 35 miles long. It didn’t eat, it didn’t sleep, and it never complained. And believe it or not, it really did hurl itself into Jupiter’s super-strong atmosphere. And then it exploded into millions of tiny bits.

This brave explorer was a robot, or more specifically, a space probe. It was nicknamed Galileo. The name originally belonged to the famous Italian math whiz, astronomer, and telescope innovator, Galileo Galilei.

Galileo (the robot) and other space probes have helped us learn more about the universe. These space probes, controlled by people on the ground, enter extremely dangerous environments. They take huge risks so that people don’t have to.

After all, it’s not that big a tragedy if a space probe crashes. Sure, tons of time, energy, and money go into creating these things. But unlike humans, robots are built to come and go. It’s people you can’t replace.

If you know anything about robots, you know they are pretty much the opposite of teenagers. Robots do whatever they are told. They don’t complain. They don’t talk back. They don’t stay out past their curfew. They would never start a food fight.

Did you know that the word “robot” hasn’t been around that long? “Robot” comes from the Czech word “robota,” which means required or forced labor. The word robot was first introduced into the English language in 1923. That really wasn’t so long ago.

As robots become more advanced, they become more useful to human beings. The space probe Galileo’s job was perfect for a robot. Scientists shot this mechanical being out into space. They programmed it to complete tasks that they couldn’t do themselves without risking their own lives. That’s awesome when you think about it.

Robots are pretty new to the scene. Sure, they’ve been in Hollywood movies over the years. (Just a few of them are Terminator, Star Wars, Robocop, A.I., Transformers, and Short Circuit.) But their existence in real life is a fairly new thing. In fact, robots have been building cars, flying around space, and doing other tasks for only a little over 50 years.

Robotics (the study of the design and use of robots) is on the cutting edge of technology. Scientists are imagining (and developing) a world where robots and human beings live side-by-side. In this world, robots work alongside people to make life better for everyone.

The robotics movement officially started more than 50 years ago. In 1954, the first stationary (it stayed in one place) industrial robot was invented. The robot’s name was Unimate, and he was pretty special. Unimate was basically a great big mechanical arm. He could be programmed to lift things up and down without anyone controlling him.

That may not sound very exciting now, but this big arm was a big deal in 1954. As photographs of Unimate began to circle the globe, people were amazed. They simply couldn’t believe that the arm moved all by itself. The technology behind this mechanical arm was new, exciting, and profitable. In fact, in 1961, Unimate joined the assembly line at General Motors, helping to build cars!

Robot development exploded after the world found out about Unimate. Here was a worker that you didn’t have to pay. He never took a break. And he would do the same thing over and over. He never slowed down, got bored, or needed to go to the bathroom. Suddenly, every business on the planet wanted to learn how robots could help them. These robots were being created by a new group of super-smart (and yes, sometimes super-nerdy) scientists.

As the technology advanced, the worldwide interest in robotics did, too. Thousands of talented men and women began pursuing robotics as a career. These brilliant and creative minds have developed some truly awesome robots.

Today, robots come in all shapes and sizes. They can be enormous and complex masses of metal. For example, there’s the giant, car-smashing “Truckasaurus”—a humungous robot that smashes and “eats” automobiles in shows around the country. (Want to know more? Type the word Truckasaurus into HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com" www.youtube.com and check out some really incredible footage!)

Robots can also be nearly invisible. Don’t let their tiny size fool you, though. Sometimes the most incredible robots come in the smallest of packages. For example, a robot known as HeartLander is just 20 millimeters long. It looks sort of like a caterpillar. But this robot is way cooler than a caterpillar (and caterpillars are pretty cool).

HeartLander is inserted onto the surface of a living person’s heart! It travels across the heart to problem areas and delivers lifesaving drugs. That’s right—a tiny machine that crawls on your heart while it is beating, and gives you medicine. Amazing!

Nowadays, robots appear in places you wouldn’t even think of. Robots make our cars. They clean our floors. They help us perform surgeries. They deliver our mail. Hordes of robots are working together to perform complex tasks, like landing on Mars. Robots are toys. Robots even star in movies. (Did you know that many newborn babies in films are actually robots?) Robots are our friends.

Yes, it’s an exciting time for robots. And it’s an exciting time to be creating them. It’s only going to get a lot more exciting as the technology behind them advances. Some people say we’ll soon have robots that can think and reason like humans do. Imagine that for a second—an “artificial intelligence” equal to our own.

That thought is amazing and scary at the same time. To be able to create something so complex is a very powerful thing. That technology needs to be in the right hands … like the hands of the young, brilliant subject of this book, Eletha Flores.

Of course, nobody is born with a passion for creating robots. Over time, and through life experiences, things just kind of happen. Your passions develop as you go along. Just ask Eletha.