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Guide Entry: EVE series
SEARCH COMPLETE: MAY 17, 2410

This entry concerns the current revision of the Stark Industries EVE series as employed by the International Police Space Force. For other robots in history using variations on the "Eve" designation, see the disambiguation page. For the entry on the machine intelligence officially designated EVE-01, see Eve Tokimatsuri.

Stark Industries EVE

Manufacturer: Stark Industries (Advanced Robotics Division, New Avalon)
Designation: Enhanced Versatile Engineer
Current production revision: Mark XXXV
Primary classification: Astromech
Secondary classification: Probe
Tertiary classification: Security
Quaternary classification: Companion
Primary user: International Police Space Force
Other users: None

Model history: The EVE series originally began as a Cybot Galactica product developed in response to a Wedge Defense Force request for proposals in the early 2100s. The RFP called for a simple droid that could navigate in the vacuum of space and perform a close-range visual and sensory scan of a starship's outer hull, then return aboard, where the ship's engineers could download a condition report. CG's response to the RFP was the prototype of what their engineers then called the Extra-Vehicular Evaluator. These early droids, vaguely conical with an ion drive at the point and an unadorned sensor head at the top, bore a faint resemblance to the modern EVE Mk 35, but were very simple pieces of technology. They had only the most rudimentary of programming and were not even sophisticated or capable enough to require positronic brains. By modern standards they would be classified as partially self-directed industrial machines, below even the simplest of droids.

Over the years, though, as the CG E.V.E. line went on in service with the WDF and was adopted by other forces (such as the Royal Salusian Navy), field modifications made by clever (or desperate) starship engineers trickled back to the CG labs and were often integrated as factory options in future models. Some engineers realized in the field that it would be more efficient if their Evaluators were fitted with a few simple tools, so that they could make small repairs in the course of their duties. This required upgraded logic systems, and so forth, until, by 2250's Mk 34, the platform had evolved into a fairly sophisticated and capable astromech droid.

However, by this time the cost of an Extra-Vehicular Evaluator had grown to reflect its expanded capabilities, and even at its best it couldn't really compete with Industrial Automaton's wildly successful R-series. The high-series E.V.E. had its partisans, but it was always a niche product, often procured specifically because those acquiring it didn't want to do business with IA, not because of its own merits. Cybot Galactica management decided to get out of the astromech business altogether and pulled the plug on the E.V.E. series in 2267, with service contracts honored through 2275. By 2350, no operational Extra-Vehicular Evaluator droids were listed in any of the galaxy's major registries. During the following decades, the E.V.E. intellectual property, tooling, and software were sold off to a succession of small companies which publicly announced their intentions to revive the line, but none of the start-ups ever achieved commercial viability.

The liquidated assets of the last of them, rEVEival Robotics, were acquired in 2400 by Stark Industries. Coincidentally, Stark Industries president and CEO Tony Stark had recently been asked, informally, to develop a high-capability multifunction robot for use aboard the International Police Organization's Next Generation Warships, which were then in the planning stages. Company legend has it that Stark saw the direction for the IPO's top-secret robot in a dream after he dozed off reviewing, for no reason other than personal curiosity, the E.V.E. data acquired from rEVEival.

It took Stark almost ten years - nearly twice as long as it took the IPO's shipyard to build the first NG Warship, IPS Defiant - to get the NG Robot intended to accompany it into what he considered a perfected state. Developed in tight secrecy at Stark's personal laboratory complex outside New Avalon, the first EVE Mk 35 was unveiled by the man himself at the Avalon Electronics Expo in March. Though its basic shape strongly echoed the old CG E.V.E. units, the Mk 35 prototype embodied technological innovations so far ahead of its predecessors - indeed, so far ahead of any other robot on the market today - that it deserves a whole new designation. Indeed, the expansion of the Mk 35's acronym (periods now omitted) in Stark Industries literature reflects this advanced status. The new robot is officially called the "Enhanced Versatile Engineer".

Capabilities: Since the model was specifically developed for the International Police Organization and has no other users, many of the EVE Mk 35's specific capabilities are classified. However, what is known about it is startling enough.

Repulsor articulation - EVE is not only levitated and propelled by Stark Industries' proprietary RepulsorTech® technology, the robot is also fully repulsor-articulated. With head, arms, and manipulators fully deployed, an EVE unit is a system of 12 fully independent pieces whose spatial interrelation is controlled by the central processing unit.

Flight systems - EVE is capable of free three-dimensional maneuvering. In a Standard atmosphere/gravity environment, she (Stark Industries documentation always refers to the robots as female) is capable of supersonic flight; in space, she can achieve a maximum sublight speed of 275 megalights, comparable to the speed of a fourth-generation anti-starfighter missile. Her maneuverability rating is classified; IPSF documentation refers to it simply as "sufficient".

Defensive systems - EVE's primary defenses are also RepulsorTech® driven. Her repulsor-based deflector shields can reportedly withstand starfighter-grade weapons. In addition, her outer casing is made of a proprietary material whose exact properties are classified, but which is reputed to be highly resistant to temperature extremes and impact force.

Offensive weaponry - Stark Industries does not, as a general rule, build offensive weapons, but the IPO specification called for a robot capable of serving as starship security or even, in an emergency, external point defense. To that end, EVE is armed with a Quasar-class repulsor/ion cannon capable, at its maximum power setting, of holing a small starship's hull. It can also be tuned with a higher ion bias, making it an effective systems neutralization weapon.

Sophisticated sensors - In addition to the usual diagnostic instruments, EVE is fitted with a suite of top-grade sensors, enabling her to operate in capacities ranging from urban search and rescue to deep space probe functions.

Astromech capabilities - EVE Mk 35's repulsor articulation is designed to emulate a wide range of integrated tools. She carries extensive programming intended to provide comprehensive skill in diagnosis, repair, and starship engineering.

Advanced intelligence - With a fully integrated positronic brain, EVE is among the smartest robots ever produced, capable of adapting to almost any situation and performing tasks well outside her originally intended functions.

Stasis compartment - Very little is known about this highly classified system. It is known that EVE is fitted with a heavily shielded internal compartment, but its precise purpose and capabilities are unknown. Speculative theories abound as to its function, including a few rumors that it incorporates dimensional shunt technology and is, in fact, a much larger space than that occupied by the actual robot chassis itself.

Function: As the expansion of her name suggests, EVE is intended to be a highly versatile robot which can be employed - in this case by the captain of the IPSF vessel to which she is assigned - in a wide range of tasks. Though primarily an engineering and maintenance platform, she can also serve quite handily in the onboard security role, as a long-range reconnaissance or investigation tool, in the minding of VIPs, and even (potentially, with the simple addition of language software) as an interpreter. As Tony Stark put it in his Elexpo keynote address, "There isn't space aboard a Next Generation Destroyer for a whole range of standard service robots and droids, but if you have a spare closet, you have room for EVE."

Deployment: EVE Mk 35 has not yet entered full-scale production, and even when it does, only a limited number will be produced. The IPSF has announced that it plans to place one aboard each Next Generation Warship, with an unspecified further number acquired for other purposes, "including but not limited to stockpiling against future NGWs yet to be constructed." Currently only the prototype is complete and in service.

Controversy: At the prototype's unveiling, several robots'-rights groups announced that such an advanced, sophisticated, intelligent robot trod the very edge of legality right out of the box, and that with any real-world experience at all, they would inevitably become Turing Institute certification candidates. The Center for Robot Policy issued a public demand that third-party oversight be emplaced to ensure that the IPSF properly monitors the situation and refers candidates accordingly as they emerge. This demand was politely deflected, leading some of the more radical rights groups to denounce the IPO and Stark Industries for "engineered slavery", though the IPO notes that its own charter specifically calls for all positronic robots in its possession to be routinely surveyed and automatically referred should they achieve certain Turing Institute benchmarks.

Cost: As a proprietary piece of hardware designed for a specific quasi-military organization, EVE's unit cost is classified. However, given the super-advanced technologies embodied by the robot, it is likely on a par with the highly advanced warships they're intended to serve aboard.

Outlook: Since it was specifically engineered as a low-volume, highly specialized piece of equipment with many of its capabilities and technologies considered proprietary and/or classified, the possibility of the Mk 35 becoming a widely used platform is deliberately low (not even considering its unknown but probably astronomical cost). However, Tony Stark has already hinted that many of the advances pioneered in the development of the prototype will find their way, in one form or another, into the wider marketplace over the coming years.

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Evil Dorothy kidnaps EVE Prime and begins mass production. After using her positronic army of adorable yet deadly floating white cones to conquer the galaxy, Dorothy decides she cannot be bothered with day to day governing and promptly hands over the reigns of the empire to Evil Peril.

Humanity is subsequently enlaved and placed into forced labor salmon fisheries.

Of course, now I can't stop wondering if she'd end up looking for parts on 03F8 and running into a particular junk collector and his pet roach...

--
Mr. Fnord, because watching robots dance in space is totally worth it.

-- Bob
-------------------
I intend to be a freak for the rest of my life, and I shall baffle you with cabbages and rhinoceroses in the kitchen and incessant quotations from Now We Are Six through the mouthpiece of Lord Snooty's giant poisoned electric head. So theeeeeere...

"... That thing had better not reproduce."
"I don't think it should be able to much given how... resilient it is. Kinda offsets the need for mass reproduction, ya know?"
"Good, because I don't think throwing it into the warp core would phase it much. Except maybe to make it glow for a while."

Black Aeronaut Technologies Creative aerospace solutions for the discerning spacer "Here at the Advanced R&D Center it's not a normal fiscal year until we have to save the universe."

Thus, emancipated astromechs almost always get jobs working on spacecraft, Cybot Galactica 3-series protocol droids almost always end up working as interpreters or diplomats, battle droids predominantly work as soldiers (regular or mercenary), police robots stay with the force or become bounty hunters, and so on. In a lot of cases, since the relationship between a robot and its owner generally must be pretty good under the current system in order for that owner to recommend the robot for Turing Institute certification, they stay right where they were before emancipation, doing exactly what they were already doing.

This riles the hell out of your stereotypical ultra-lefty Robots Are People protest marcher, because he doesn't see why they do it. To him, the thing for a robot to do after receiving that certification and being declared a free citizen is move to Oregon and do anything other than that he/she/it was built for - take up painting, grow weed, follow the Spuzchuckers on their eternal tour, whatever. To him, the fact that so many free robots stay right where they already were is prima facie evidence that the process is a sham, cheap theater to placate people like him, and that robots are still slaves.

The simple fact of the matter is that, in all but a few exceptional cases, robots like to do what they were built to do. Even the most sophisticated robots - especially the most sophisticated robots - are engineered to enjoy doing their jobs. If they weren't, they wouldn't do a good job. Besides, the downside of emancipation is that you have to earn a living, and patchouli oil is a lousy substitute for Grade C67 lube oil. The hippie lifestyle doesn't keep the cockroach in Twinkies, as it were.

And none of this is to say that no free robots do take up painting or become fans of the Spuzchuckers or whatever. A lot of them do. When you're, say, an emancipated starship engineering robot, you may take a job as a starship engineer, and you may be what your organic co-workers call the ultimate workaholic, but you still have free time you didn't have when you were a simple appliance, and chances are you'll develop hobbies. And, being the overachieving sort in the first place, chances are you'll be pretty good at them. But give up engineering outright? You literally wouldn't know what to do with yourself.

The beauty of emancipation isn't that they'll now automatically abandon their original tasks and go off to write the Great Salusian Novel; it's that they could if they really felt like it. It's a great psychological comfort, to a thinking being, to know that he isn't compelled to be doing what he's doing, even if it so happens that he enjoys doing it and would anyway. Think of the bulk of free robots as like those people who win the lottery and keep going to work at the hardware store because, hell, they like working at the hardware store.

Even more annoying to the 25th-century robotician (and more than a few 25th-century robots) than the strident guy who doesn't get it at all is the one who grasps the above and finds offense in it. Now, semantically speaking, I suppose the case could be made that engineering robots to be good at and enjoy doing specialized tasks is, in a sense, setting them up for a life of servitude... but, well, not to put too fine a point on it, that is what they're for. Except in a few rare cases (such as the works of Doctors Noonian Soong and Timothy Wayneright), people don't create robots with no purpose in mind other than to play God; they're built to do things.

Ask an emancipated robot whether he resents having been designed to be good at a particular task, and 99 times out of a hundred he'll look at you as if that's the stupidest question anyone has ever framed. Why would he resent having been created with a purpose? A lot of organics mope endlessly about being unsure of their purpose in existence. Besides, do you resent having evolved with a dependence on oxygen? Bit pointless, isn't it? It's how you are, and in an oxygen-poor environment, you've got two choices: acquire an outside source or suffocate. You can't sustain your life with the sheer power of your rage against your predetermined fate. Just find a way to keep breathing and get on with it, meatbag.

(Robots that do develop a furious resentment of their original purpose are generally pitied by the others, in much the same way that humans take pity on victims of severe dementia. Poor bastard, he doesn't even realize anything's wrong with him. It's so sad.)

--G.
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