Page 24 of Chaos Theory

‘Nice view, huh?’ she says.

I can’t tell if this is sarcasm or not. ‘Natural light is overrated,’ I venture.

She smiles. ‘True enough. We’re all glued to screens all day anyway.’

‘So this is where Kobi worked then?’

‘Yep. I miss that guy actually.’

‘You miss Kobi? That’s interesting. Why?’

‘He was a great worker. A fascinating project for me to work on too – real the-future-is-now stuff, you know? I mean I’ve done my share of robotic arm programming.

It was nice to get stuck into something more…

more’ – she raises her hands as if she’s about to conduct the New York Symphony Orchestra – ‘sophisticated. I know he was still in beta, but still – he was quite the creation, thanks to Josh here.’

Josh gives her a pained smile. He looks smaller than usual, folded up in the low leather chair. ‘Laura, you’re too kind. I know it didn’t quite turn out like either of us planned. I hope it didn’t get you into too much trouble.’

For a second I wonder if Laura is the ‘Irish woman’ Josh told me about, the ex he’d met at a conference three years ago. I bet they have loads in common. Both tall, good-looking, into robots. Then I notice the ring on Laura’s left hand. Probably not her .

She takes a seat behind her desk. She looks at her computer screen, frowns slightly, then pushes the keyboard away and bounces back in her chair.

‘Listen, Josh, I get it. I know what you were trying to achieve. What we were trying to achieve. Of course there’s going to be setbacks. Especially when we’re getting up to this level of sophistication in cobots. You’re not going to make a break through without the occasional break down , right?’

He doesn’t reply. She gets up and returns to the glass wall, where I’m still standing. She speaks quietly, as if to herself.

‘I believe that one day humans and robots will work side by side, in harmony – and that will be a better world for all of us. It’s just the next logical step in how we harness technology to protect humans and improve human health.’

I look sideways up at her. Maybe I could be Laura Cantwell when I grow up.

‘Well,’ says Josh after a beat, ‘I’m glad this experience hasn’t put you off the idea of cobot integration anyway.’

She smiles. ‘Of course, it helps that RoboTron had completely indemnified the company against any potential losses. And – even better – Sam says he’s not going to sue. A week off on full pay helped with that one.’

My brain pivots to catch up. Josh didn’t mention any legal issues. Kobi did mention someone called Sam though. ‘Sam is…?’

‘Sam is the operator who bore the brunt of Kobi’s little…

meltdown,’ says Laura. ‘He got hit by an implant – although it was only on the toe, and he was wearing steel-capped boots, so…it could have been a lot worse. I keep telling them that. The suits are a bit spooked now though. They’re going to be ultra-cautious about taking on another cobot.

They’ll wait to see what competitors are doing first. But then you lose the edge – I keep telling them that too.

They don’t listen to me. They think I just want another toy to play with.

’ She laughs lightly. ‘And, well, I suppose I can’t deny that. ’

‘Do you think we could talk to Sam?’ I glance at Josh. He appears to be hiding his big, handsome face behind his big, handsome hands.

‘I don’t know if that’s a good idea,’ he mumbles. ‘He might blame me for what happened.’

‘We came here to try to find out more about that,’ I remind him. ‘Laura, do you have any theories about the Kobi incident? Were you here at the time?’

‘I wasn’t,’ she says. ‘It was a night shift so I was at home, tucked up in bed. I got a call to come in and arrived about the same time as Josh. After he took Kobi away, I watched the video footage back and talked to the shift workers. I ran a full analysis of all the data logs from the shift. Couldn’t find anything amiss in the machine data. ’

‘Was there anything amiss in the non-machine data?’ I say. ‘I mean, in the human data? That is – with the staff?’

‘Hey, Josh, she is good. Asking all the right questions. I can see why you brought her.’ I feel myself glow under her gaze.

‘The human factor – that’s really what it’s all about, isn’t it?

No matter how sophisticated the machines get, it’s really the humans we need to understand first. My background is in engineering.

I understand machines. The toughest part of this job has always been the people.

Change management, they call it. As usual, the tech is years ahead of the personnel systems.’

I’m drinking in her little speech. Mostly because it vindicates our plan to fast-track Kobi into acceptance through maximum staff interaction.

If we focus on the people, we might get results faster.

Maybe we could put him on the cover of the Go Ireland magazine – if we had one.

The monthly staff newsletter then. Employee of the Month: Kobi.

Likes: being helpful, making jokes. Dislikes: liquids, staircases.

I think back to Kobi’s first few days at Go Ireland. ‘Was there any resistance to Kobi’s introduction among his co-workers? ’

Laura makes an indeterminate sound. ‘No more than usual, I would say. Like, no more than when we got that new coffee machine last year. Perhaps less so in some instances – Jacob still claims he can’t get a decent macchiato.

But look, you can find out for yourselves if you want – I can give you fifteen minutes with Sam in the cafeteria. ’

‘That would be fantastic. Josh, what do you think?’ I ask, picking up my bag.

He sighs and unfurls himself out of the chair, stretching up to his full height before sighing again and dropping his shoulders. ‘I suppose so.’

‘Great,’ says Laura. ‘You’ll get a chance to try out our substandard macchiato.’

Laura settles us into a booth in the ultra-modern staff canteen. She gets us drinks – espresso for Josh, which looks extra tiny in his large hands, and a luxury-brand peppermint tea for me – and tells us to wait for Sam, who’ll be starting his break any minute now.

When Laura goes off to find Sam, Josh says, ‘I think I’ll let you lead on this one, Maeve. You’re doing great, by the way. Laura is really impressed with you. And she’s not easily impressed.’

I smile. ‘Finally, my talent for asking questions is paying off.’ I suddenly remember Shane teasing me for asking too many questions. In your face, Shane Fitzgerald. I make a mental note to say this the next time I see Shane’s face.

A twenty-something guy approaches our booth. Close-cropped beard, dreadlocks tied back, navy company overall.

‘Hey.’ He sits opposite us, places an eco-themed water flask on the table.

His casual manner inspires me to confidence. ‘Oh, hello, you must be Sam. I’m Maeve McGettigan, and this is my associate Josh.’ I almost wink at Josh.

‘Yeah, Laura told me. You want to talk about Kobi, don’t you? Coffee’s good here, isn’t it?’

I want to ask him why he’s drinking water if the coffee is so good but decide to keep my powder dry.

‘I don’t know to the second question. But yes to the first one. Laura told us you were working with him the night of the… the night when he… that time when things went wrong.’

Sam gives a short laugh. His hair bobs. ‘Him?’

‘I’m sorry?’ I say.

‘So we’re up to saying “him” now, are we? You do know Kobi is just a machine, yeah?’

Josh squirms in his seat. I know he’s dying to chime in. He adds sugar to his tiny coffee and stirs it in, spoon clinking noisily. I’m pretty sure Josh doesn’t take sugar in anything.

‘Yes, I’m aware of that,’ I say. Perhaps a bit of authority is called for.

I decide to channel some of the language from the MIT robot course.

‘But we find it helps us to enhance interactivity, communication and collaboration systems if we anthropomorphise Kobi.’ Josh is nodding along.

Emboldened, I decide to add, ‘Also, it’s more fun.

’ Authoritative, but still approachable.

Sam smiles. ‘Ah, fun.’ He takes a long slurp of water. ‘Let me ask you something. Have you actually worked with the Kobi bot? Like, day-to-day?’

‘Well…’ I begin, but Sam cuts me off.

‘I mean, have you tried to do anything other than take care of Kobi when Kobi’s around? Because I have and let me tell you’ – he pauses for another sip of water, probably for dramatic effect too – ‘it’s exhausting.’

‘Go on.’ I throw Josh a look to pre-empt any interruption. He’s knocked back the espresso and I fear it’s about to kick in.

‘It’s supposed to be a collaborative robot, yeah? Supposed to collaborate . That means help us – help the humans on the line. There’s meant to be some kind of mutual exchange going on, right? It helps us and in exchange we teach it to be better?’

‘Human–machine collaboration—’ Josh begins.

‘He – I mean, it – was probably the most annoying work colleague I’ve ever had. It was supposed to make my job easier, but it actually made it much, much harder. The constant questions. It never stopped. Honestly, my five-year-old niece asks less questions!’

‘Well, he’s still learning!’ says Josh defensively. He can’t help himself. ‘He’s just getting going. You wouldn’t believe how much he’s learned already?—’

‘Oh, I would,’ says Sam. ‘Because most of it he’s learned from me.

Not he – it, it . Now I’m doing it.’ He shakes his head, then speaks more quietly.

‘Sometimes I used to hide behind the machines and hope it wouldn’t find me.

But damn that supersonic hearing – it always found me.

I didn’t know I’d had it so good before – wearing headphones, listening to podcasts while I worked. All that changed when Kobi came along.’