The Famed Five

The Famed Five is a special group created by ARC-X's Android Division known for spearheading the development of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) to be used on AIRA androids, starting with the Third Generation.

History

The development of the Third Generation of AIRA androids had been known to be an arduously long, yet fruitful endeavor for the advancement of the human race. What had started out as a military effort to remotely mobilize mechanized units through difficult terrain was slowly miniaturized over the decades, emphasizing a design more akin to autonomous humanoids rather than the so-called ‘tank-on-legs’ that most soldiers on the field would describe it. An intimidating giant of steel, purpose-made to accompany the less agile yet absolute beast of a standard Main Battle Tank, would be then made to be twice as mobile and adaptive in combat with its Second Generation follow-up being a few meters taller than an average human male. This miniaturization and humanization of the units themselves would continue even further, resulting in a near perfect match of human behavior and appearance with its Third Generation revision.

However, getting to that point wasn’t as straightforward as the ARC-X imagined. Having to not only implement the previous generation’s revisions and have them all included within every unit from the start, but with the addition of new sensors and introducing a new model of self-learning Artificial Intelligence to make use of a unit’s entire form was a challenge that most scientists wouldn’t dare tackle. The company's own R&D personnel believed they wouldn’t be able to do it in a reasonable time, as the various challenges that they would face seemed like a project that would’ve taken several years, if not decades to even have a working prototype. Consumer models were without consideration, of course.

And thus, former founder, CEO and current chairman Paul Smith III put his CEO replacement, Andrew Wake, to deal with this problem, and the solution for Andrew was in a way that was most familiar to them. A blank cheque, an extensive talent scouting effort, and any set of resources that a worldwide-sized tech conglomerate could offer.

This would result in the formation of The Famed Five. A group consisting of 5 people, among them scientists, engineers, and researchers, who were scouted from all over the globe with the concerted effort to achieve one single goal: To make ARC-X’s much requested advancements for the AIRA Third Generation units to become a reality. The conglomerate had made it clear that they were supporting this sought-after supergroup for R&D personnel all the way through.

It only took a relatively small amount of time and by the summer of 2070, they not only had the ideas, challenges, and solutions for this project implemented in a working manner, but they had also managed to create a working prototype out of their results. In 2072, said prototype would evolve to a green-light for the mass market itself, being used both for military and civilian purposes as well. For most researchers and analysts, such an advancement of technology within little time was remarkable.

Staff Involved

The Famed Five was composed of 5 experts, hired in between 2065 and 2068. The group was disbanded in 2073.

Stefan Bachmann

Stefan Bachmann Dr. phil. (2032 A.D. - ) is a German psychologist, scientist, doctor with Ph.D in Human Behaviors and Psychology, and was the lead designer on Behavioral & Psychological Traits for the AIRA Third Generation Project.

Stefan was born in Brussels, Germany, and exhibit incredible interest on human psychologist since he was a child, due to the fact that his parents were also doctors in the field. At the age of 35, he obtained his Doctorate and went working with HausMarke, on their own projects for Android Development, as the company was looking to enter the market. Less than 6 months, Andrew Wake hired Stefan to join the group and in less than 4 weeks, Stefan had already worked out how to integrate any elements that were already produced, and without any increase of power footprint.

After the team was disbanded in 2073 A.D., HausMarke rehired Stefan and Marie Sophie Simonet and with their help, they developed and released in the next year the second iteration of their own Android, the HM FRIEND Second Edition.

Edwin Hargrove

Edwin Hargrove (2012 A.D. - ) is a British engineer and programmer, and the lead developer on AGI Programming and Training for the AIRA Third Generation Project.

His tenure in the British Isles’ Goodwood Aircraft and Defense Systems led him to be very desirable to many companies, including ARC-X. Edwin in particular was responsible for being a key component to the creation of their in-house business jets, with his contribution coming in the form of the jets’ operating system. The middle-aged man’s mindset of rock-steady consistent reliability, no matter the condition, age, or even usage had been applied to its design and implementation, resulting in a product that has its navigation systems always working even within the absolute worst of environments. After discovering that a forced landing of his private jet was because Edwin had designed the engines, he personally sent an invite to get Edwin into ARC-X. He refused, as he was about to retire, until he learned that the project was for the AIRA Third Generation. Edwin joined in 2065 A.D.

Once Stefan joined, he and Edwin worked together and within weeks, they had a working prototype of AGI for portable systems, that would be iterated until becoming part of the Third Generation Androids.

With the group disbanding in 2073 A.D., Edwin retired to a home in the British Isles, with the location being kept secret, as per his desire.

Kyoko Minazuki

Kyoko Minazuki (2037 A.D. - ) is a Japanese hardware engineer and was the Internal Hardware Specialist for the AIRA Third Generation Project.

A young prodigy hailing from the northern prefectures of the Rising Sun itself, Kyoko had dreams of etching out a much more prosperous future than the simple country bumpkin life that had awaited her. After getting her Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, her thesis results had landed her in an invited internship within ARC-X’s Prosperous Talents program.

Having proved her work ethic and occasionally unorthodox methods in solving problems, such an internship had developed into a five year long employment contract as an intermediate systems engineer of ARC-X, and eventually, the AIRA project’s lead Internal Hardware Specialist in its Second and Third Generation phases, where a majority of her experience into robotics development had originated from. She had transferred between the ARC-X American and Japanese branches to oversee many developments.

The group disbanded in 2073 A.D. but she kept working inside the company until an old colleague of hers had sent a referral to work for Hayatsu, resulting in her quitting ARC-X and being immediately employed within their R&D sector. Once there, she helped Hayatsu release a new version of their own Android, the ALIC Edition 3.

Marie Sophie Simonet

Marie Sophie Simonet (2051 A.D. - ) is an French robotics engineer and scientist, being the External Hardware Specialist for the AIRA Third Generation Project.

Marie started her life as a member of Team BitCrunch, one of the top three performing contestant teams of a pay-per-view robot combat TV show named “SteelClash”. The team’s reputation of being a three person ensemble consisting of her friends from college and high school had left many of their opponents baffled, as practically anything that they’ve made was almost nigh unkillable, no matter what type of curveball rule set the producers provided for certain seasons. At the age of 20, she became the show’s youngest judge.

A few years later, she announced that she would be stepping away from “SteelClash” to continue her career in Robotics. During her tenure within Sorbonne University she was once hired for a contract role within HausMarke’s France branch, leading her to be a rather revered robotics engineer amongst the staff within their Parisian research buildings.

Her reputation left ARC-X in “SteelClash” impressed and personally scouted by then acting CEO at the time, Andrew Wake. She was a perfect fit to be invited and become one of ARC-X’s Lead Hardware Engineers for the AIRA Third Generation project, even if the methodology of hiring her was rather controversial.

Despite being part of ARC-X for years, her work within the project was highly praised and innovative and HausMarke was more than willing to take her as a permanent employee again after the project was completed, even if it’s just for the sake of living close to her family. She and Stefan Bachmann rejoined the company after the team disbanded in 2073 A.D.

Julian Victor Collins

Julian Victor Collins (2023 A.D. - ) is a North American researcher, programmer and engineer, being the lead Implementation Engineer for the AIRA Third Generation Project, as well its Project Leader.

Julian was born into a wealthy family, and most famously, he is the son of one of the largest investing companies in the world, Global Invest Finance. GIF was allegedly going to be his but he decided to go into a completely different direction, opting to manage the firm close to the ground floor than at the top.

He became the youngest investor in ARC-X, impressing chairman and founder Paul Smith III, at the time CEO, and with that, Julian took many roles inside the company, being profitable in every single one of them, from ArcOS to the ArcPhone. In 2064 A.D. Andrew Wake, the current CEO, announced that Julian would spearhead a new group inside the Android Division to update the AIRA to its Third Generation.

Even after the group disbanded, Julian remained at the company, managing the division to date.