Front page · Cosyford Robotics
Beep boop, hello Cosyford: the friendly robots coming to a business near you
Weld them, wire them, paint them pink and call them Crumpet. Ada Cogsworth’s robot factory builds helpers for the whole town, and every one of them waves goodbye.
A new chassis rides in on the conveyor, grey and silent. First you weld it together, dragging the torch along the glowing dotted seams while the sparks fly. Then its chest opens up to show its brain, and you plug in the chips, each one into the socket of the same shape. Hold the button, the power crackles, and its face lights up with a big HELLO! Ada Cogsworth says she has never once got tired of that bit.
Next it rolls into the paint booth, where you spray it any colours you like: a red head, a yellow body, a pink wheelbase, why not. You give it its eyes (the hearts are popular), an antenna and a name. There are hundreds of names, and Ada likes Toaster Tim best. Her first robot, Clank, still makes her tea every morning. He is a little rusty, and very proud.
Then it goes to school. On the test course it learns a job, such as taking Ada her tea, watering the plants or stacking a box on the shelf, from a row of program cards: forward, turn left, turn right. A dotted line shows where the program will take it. When it goes wrong it bumps into a crate, says “oops” and trundles back for another go, and if you get stuck Ada will start the program off for you. Once it has learnt the job, you choose which of your businesses it goes to help. It rolls up the ramp onto the lorry and waves all the way out of the yard. Each robot makes its business earn a quarter more once it runs itself, up to four robots at each.
