Question: Would specific bots need to have skills uploaded to them or they built in? Wheel Jack was a tinker/scientist while the Jet Fire was explorer. I know there was never mention of skills, but Groundwave (character) shows more abilities than most. I just wonder if these guys have a skill set that built or even listed. Having tools, not necessary means you have know-how to use them. Ratchet would need know how to repair their fellow bots, perhaps improvise.
That is basically one of the key differences between the Syberian drones and truly sapient AIs: they can't really learn what they aren't supposed to, and what they do learn is geared to what they are meant to do. This makes them incapable of pure innovation; they can fix, they can jury-rig, they can make substitutions within reason, but they can't really invent anything new. Every AutoMech body type was engineered by a human team, and their production since the humans died off is basically driven by factory specs. Core programming tends to occur at the factories. This initial programming, naturally, includes their operating systems and primary function programs. So, a DoctorMech is basically "born" a DoctorMech, while a NinjaMech is basically "born" a NinjaMech. (All AutoMechs get a Piloting and Gunnery Skill regardless of function, by the way; it basically represents their physical coordination, spacial awareness, and dexterity.) Also set at this time are their personalities, voices, accents, and such--often with a randomizing factor to make them a little more engaging. (This can have unforeseen consequences, of course, like creating a treacherous Star Seeker-like unit who's core programming to NOT betray the cause kicks in usually just as it stages a coup, thus making its every attempt to kill the resident Mechatankus doomed from the start. The human Syberians likely would have spotted those flaws and reformatted this Seeker's systems in quality control, but with no humans handling QC, dangerously self-destructive personas now make it to the field.) Part of these personality features may also include an odd "bonus" Skill or two, which is more a happy accident than a deliberate choice.
Now, their skills CAN improve over time as their pattern-recognition protocols enable them to spot better/more efficient ways to perform their tasks for same-or-better results. But learning a new function requires some additional reprogramming. Officer programming, for instance, is bestowed on those that demonstrate sufficient success ratios and superiority in their tasks. And at a certain level of mastery (experience), some AutoMechs may receive extra code for secondary functions. Our Wheeler Jack was built to serve as a DoctorMech, but its supplemental persona programming likely gave it a Skill or two that come from a more analytical field, likely to make use of the scouting equipment it mounts, while its personality is more curious than most, and asks "why?" a lot more than usual. As it reached a higher Skill level in Piloting and Gunnery, we can presume it honed those skills enough to do its job VERY well. The addition of an Officer program indicates that this combination may have made it particularly effective at repairs and refits, earning it a higher rank and some more tactical and command-related skills. Combined with all its other features and Skills, it is likely capable of some really unconventional thinking, which it can apply in combat and in repairs. It seems like a mad scientist/tinkerer, but its really just finding new ways to configure units on the fly that most AutoMechs simply wouldn't consider.
As to Groundwave in Giovanni's fanfic, the story behind him is that he's a true oddity and not an AutoMech at all. At least not in a conventional sense. Instead he's a perfect or near-perfect copy of an actual human persona translated into a 'Mech's control system. He thus can reason and think as creatively as any human being.
I'm not sure if that really clears things up for you or not, but I guess the point is that whatever intangible wall exists between a really clever AI and true sapience, it remains intact where the AutoMechs of Syberia are concerned.
- Herb
