Profile
BIO
DESCRIPTION
From an early age, Robert has been exceptionally brilliant in the sciences and mathematics. He was seen as a prodigy and still is viewed as a genius among Councilmembers and Steel, the head of the Council. He is aware of his position of power and favoritism among Steel, and as such, is unafraid to use it. Generally, Robert is described by others as a "respectable" man by his fellow Councilmembers. Despite his history of dishonesty, he is still trusted by Edward Steel. Although he is the Council's robotics specialist, Robert is rarely ever seen in public nowadays, if at all (in fact, he is known as somewhat of a myth to younger Councilmembers). In fact, Robert isn't a very social character in general. As he's sat in decades of isolation and grief, Robert himself has become, in more ways than one, frozen in the state he was in when he was young, save for his increased paranoia. Physically, Robert has aged minimally, while mentally, he is still very childlike and dependent on others. This is most notably shown when he created Margaret, who serves not only as a stand-in for his public physical appearances but also as someone who will take him through his strict, personal routine every day. Robert also has a tendency to blame others for his misdeeds or believe he has done nothing wrong entirely.
He has a short-average height. Fair skin. Right eye is brown, left eye is bright blue due to being artificial. Always wears long sleeves and gloves to cover his left arm, which is robotic. Despite his age, he’s still rather young looking, with minimal wrinkles and more of a receding hairline. His hair is greying but it’s not too noticeable with the blue dye. His build is still fairly muscular. Although he lives in recluse, Robert still is very formal in his appearance; he dresses in neatly pressed suits, combs his hair, and is unfathomably clean.
Character
Backstory
Fresh out of high school, Robert joined the military. There he met Annette, and they immediately started dating.
About a year into training, Robert hated being solely in the service, so instead he decided to go to college for computer engineering- and later, robotics specifically. He quickly became top of the class and excelled in his field. Later, he returned to the military, this time, purely as an intern, to work on a "secret" project per request of the Council themselves. The project: to create an AI that was humanoid in appearance, but could interact with others at a basic level or through a remote control. The Council needed robots in place of humans to explore other exoplanets, but still needed them to be able to carry out remote functions in case of discovering alien life.
Over the course of the project, Robert became both increasingly interested in AI and frustrated with the team's lack of progress. Due to this, Robert drifted away from the initial AI project to create his own. Without the knowledge of the Council, he started to work on building and perfecting a near human AI- one that could not only just do what the exoplanet exploring ones could do, but more. Using one of the beta exploring bots as a base for the framework, Robert worked on making the ultimate AI.
After awhile, Robert was hitting roadblocks in creating software that could create "real" emotions and a proper personality. Conveniently at this time, Annette became terminally ill, which prompted Robert to attempt to brain map Annette into the android. Not only would this save Annette from death, but it would also eliminate the very problem he was hellbent on solving.
Initially, the experiment was a success. However, Annette's memories and consciousness had not transferred over to the android- only her personality. Over time as well, the unit had an increasingly difficult time handling emotions. It started forming its own identity for itself. Obviously, this caused Robert great distress. Failed attempt after failed attempt to get Annette back, he deemed the project a failure, and the android, a bastardization of the original. He ordered for a shutdown of the android and planned to quit robotics altogether.
Eventually the android overheard about the shutdown, and attempted to kill Robert. In a last ditch effort to save his own skin, Robert triggered an explosion in the facility, murdering most of his coworkers and fatally wounding himself. In the accident, the left side of his body was extremely damaged and he lost his left arm.
Robert underwent surgery which left him with an artificial left eye and arm. He was able to skin graft his face, but unfortunately the same couldn't be said for his arm.
Seeing as Robert was one of the few survivors of the accident, Edward Steel- the head chairman of the Council- personally pardoned Robert and anyone left alive. Although it was slightly suspicious, Steel- the head chairman of the Council- was desperate for roboticists.
After the accident Robert worked his way up the ladder, becoming the Council's head roboticist and Steel's personal robotics specialist. He had since invented a mass-produced, less intelligent version of his original AI, as well as various other things. Despite his inventing success, Robert became a recluse at as young as 30ish.
To both cope with the loss of Annette and to no be completely cut off from the Council, Robert built Margaret. Although she wasn't as "good enough" as his previous partner, Margaret became a sort of middleman so he could keep in touch with the Council's demands. For awhile, Robert would attempt to improve Margaret, but to no avail.
To this day Robert is still in hiding, paranoid the android will make a comeback for him.
Preferences
Likes
- Computers, robots, androids
- Studying, reading books
- Routine
Dislikes
- His wife, only a little
- Most of the Council
Trivia
- Heavily inspired appearance-wise by several works created by J.C. Leyendecker. Other inspirations for him include Guy Montag (Fahrenheit 451) and Jay Gatsby (The Great Gatsby).
- His birth name is Robert Jay McKinley, but he legally changed it to better fit in with the Council when he was inducted. His hair was also dyed prior to his induction; his natural hair color is strawberry blonde.
- Most technology available in current day is accredited to Robert, either by modification or by invention (although it's copyrighted under the Council)
- Robert originally needed glasses, but due to his robotic eye, there was no need for them.
Links
Relationships
Robert created Juliette as a way to prevent his fiance, Annette, from dying- or rather, letting her have a second chance at life. Due to Juliette ultimately becoming a separate entity from Annette, Robert considers Juliette a failure and bastardization of his late lover. However, he still finds it a little difficult to separate the two. Although Robert triggered an explosion to kill Juliette, he still believes her to be out there, alive and eager to finish the job.
His robotic wife. Robert doesn't love Margaret- or even care for her for that matter- but he is still heavily reliant on her.
Doesn't know her personally as of now. He's only heard about her a little from what Margaret has told him.
Robert has very mixed feelings on Steel. On one hand, he helped him increase his status and pardoned him after the accident, but he has his suspicions about Steel he just can't shake.
Steel's former wife and a client of his. Naturally, he thinks highly of her... perhaps out of obligation, however.
Like most robots, Robert doesn't think much of Gerald outside of just a machine to serve a purpose.
Like most robots, Robert doesn't think much of Gerald outside of just a machine to serve a purpose.
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