2. Set three steps
How do you get from where you are now to the goal? What three big steps do you need to take? Try working backward from the goals as well as stepping forward until you find a sequence that feels good.
3. Do three tests per week
New technology is about learning. If you only do one test, you only learn one thing and only have one chance to work it out. The more small, fast tests you do, the more chances you have of working it out.
“Goal, plan, test, repeat. How much time do you have left?” Lucia asked.
“The competition starts in eighteen weeks. With school, activities, and other life necessities, you know, like eating, sleeping, the occasional shower…”
“Soccer…” 10 added.
“Meditation…” Li added.
“All those things. We’ve all said we can do about twenty hours a week, so about 360 hours in total,” I said.
“Ok, so with eighteen weeks with three tests per week, you’ve got fifty-four tests you can perform. Yes, it sounds like a lot, I know, but if you think about them as small tests, it’s not so bad. For instance, you’ve got the physical part, 10, what’s one thing you have to solve?” Lucia asked.
“Well, it has to go underwater so it has to be water-resistant at least, preferably waterproof. We have to build it, submerge it…” 10 started.
“Yes, you could build the whole thing and then submerge it, but what if that doesn’t work and there’s something big we have to change? We might run out of time. How could we do a smaller test, faster? What if I said you have to test it in just twenty-four hours and, if you did, you would get tickets to the next women’s soccer World Cup?”
“Twenty-four hours? You can’t even build a robot part in twenty-four hours! Maybe put something else in it. Just to see if it works. Maybe get an old part?”
“Or not even a robot part. What about an electronic toy?” I said.
“Or a piece of paper?” Li said.
“Yeah, I guess so, anything that would show water got in. You could test that in two hours,” 10 said.
“Exactly. We just increased our speed of learning dramatically. We have gone from one lesson in eighteen weeks, which was about four hundred hours of work time, to one test in two hours. That’s two hundred times faster,” Lucia said.
“Plus us. There are three of us. So, if we are all testing at the same time, we are actually six hundred times faster. Zooooooooom,” Li said, with arms out wide like a plane and circling the others.
“Exactly, Li. And a team doesn’t just increase speed. It should increase both the quality and creativity of your experiments. Do you see why?” Lucia asked.
“Well, we have different sets of ideas and skills, which can help each other. But I’m not sure they’re all so completely different,” I said, then looked at Li, who was still flying around us making plane noises, and added, “Though maybe we’re overachieving on the creativity side?”
“Yes. And this is important. The only way for the team to maximize speed, quality, and creativity of learning is through tough love,” said Lucia. “The tough. You can’t just be nice to each other. If someone does something that isn’t good enough, not working or not fast enough, you need to tell them. Immediately and clearly.” Lucia said.
“This I like,” said 10, almost smiling.
“There must also be love, the second part,” added Lucia. “Being tough doesn’t mean you need to be rude or mean. It has to come from love. It also means you have to help move forward and try again. Every test we learn from is good. Each problem we solve creates momentum. You can’t just knock down; you need to help rebuild. Tough and loving. Do you think you can all commit to that?”
“I’ll do the love, love, love,” said Li.
“It won’t work that way,” I said. “If we’re just tough, we’ll all hate it and give up. If we’re just loving, we’ll be happier, but we won’t create anything worthwhile. It has to be both.”
“Ooooohhhhhh,” hummed Li, eyes sparkling like snow in the sun. “Yes. I am now both loving and tough. Lucia, your garden needs weeding. I’ll help. 10, pushing people away is silly, it’s making your life less amazing, I will be here when you are ready. AZ, stop doubting yourself. You will be a great leader and you need to start now.”
With that, Li got up and walked outside. Lucia flattened her skirt against her lap and lost a battle with a smile. 10’s fingers hung frozen above her keyboard.
With my vision blurred, I imagined this was what it felt like to stand at the door of a plane about to parachute for the first time.
This feeling of vertigo stayed with me until the next morning. I woke up and I found the answer. I decided that I was going to take Li’s advice and stop doubting myself. I will make mistakes, but a wrong decision is better than no decision. This is the path I will make for myself.
T-Minus Nine
Week One of the New Team Ada—Robot Version 2.0
After school the next day, 10 and Li walked into the lab to find me writing on the whiteboard. 10 sat down at her desk and opened her laptop without saying a word. Li sat down on the ground in front of me. I wondered what impact Li’s tough love sharing has had on the team.
“Let’s not start with Ada today. Let’s set some clear goals,” I said. Then, after what felt like an eternity, 10 closed her laptop and spun to face the whiteboard. My heart was racing.
“Write down your goal for your section,” I said.
The whiteboard read:
“A perfect seventy-five, never ever achieved before. Riiiiight. Someone’s going to end up unhappy, probably all of us,” 10 said.
“10, be positive, please,” Li said.
“This is what we’re aiming for. We may get lower, and that’s ok. But we are aiming high,” I said.
Then each of us went through our parts and, together, we came up with a big list of ideas and challenges. No less than eighteen times, 10 said to herself, not very quietly, “We should be building. We’re wasting time…” I ignored her and pushed forward.
The first item for testing by 10 was a new type of actuator for leg thrusters that would help Ada in the jumping section.
Definition: Actuator—A component of a machine that is responsible for controlling and moving.
After two days of work and a slow countdown from four to zero (Li’s idea), 10 initiated the actuator. It did nothing until prodded, then spun out of control, and lodged itself directly above Li.
“Next test!” I yelled.
We quickly got into a good rhythm of thinking, building, and testing. Each of us in our own unique way.
Li’s work was a mix between a field of flowers and a tornado. One moment Li would be on the ground with poster-sized pieces of paper and charcoal, drawing a dozen variations of some strange pattern. Then, suddenly, Li would stand up, and walk out for ten minutes. Or we could find Li doing yoga, hands on the floor, knees out, balancing for ten minutes in what we were later told was the Bakasana yoga balancing pose.
Li’s first test was herself doing the performance Ada would do. It took nine minutes (three times too long), didn’t make sense, and almost ended up in a twisted ankle.
“Next test!” I yelled.
I was immersing myself in artificial intelligence, or AI. If Ada was going to be able to answer tricky riddles, I needed to give not just intelligence, but wisdom.
My first test was to see how long it would take to feed the entire internet into Ada and process it. Answer: infinity. By the time you finished processing what was currently on the web, the internet would be eight times larger.
“Next test!” 10 and Li said in chorus.
Week Twelve, Robot Version 3.61
We completed forty-three tests in twelve weeks. Most of them failed, but we learned something from each one.
10 took the lead on assembling all the h
ardware, though both Li and I were getting a lot better with the tools.
Li led the design and took painstaking care, paying attention to every tiny detail. 10 and I eventually came to see how design isn’t just how one piece looks. Design is also how it moves, feels, and interacts with the other parts. This was hammered home when Li suggested adding a curve to the shoulder of Ada that allowed a new range of motion that 10 hadn’t achieved before.
I was developing a hard-won love and respect for coding. Each keystroke felt insignificant, but they combined to create something that could do something amazing.
It was hard work. Then more hard work. And then, even more hard work…
Finally, the day came that the 3,491 components and 148,245 lines of code formed the Ada we would come to know and love.
I wanted to remember this moment, so I looked around the room slowly and took a big breath in. It felt alive with possibility and smelled like a toolbox. I looked at Ada’s feet on the smooth floor and slowly crept my gaze up. The hard, plastic outer shell looked like deep red copper dipped in oil, with the colors changing with every flicker of light. It had the appearance of constant movement.
Robots aren’t people, I knew that, but thousands of years of human nature still drew me to the face of our creation. Li had encouraged a design with strong eyes, to help people feel comfortable communicating, as well as to allow Ada to learn how to show strong empathy.
Instead of two eyes, Ada had eighteen lenses. They could focus in eight directions, process images at 10,000 frames per second, plus record everything for perfect memory.
“Come on, Ada. You are ready,” I said.
“I can’t watch. But I can’t look away,” 10 said.
“ ‘The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.’ Thanks, Eleanor Roosevelt,” Li said.
I tapped a key and powered up our new friend.
Three slow seconds ticked by.
“Hello, I’m Ada,” the robot said, head slowly turning.
“Hello Ada, I’m AZ. It’s great to finally meet you,” I said.
I took a breath and closed my eyes.
After a few tests, we found that all Ada’s systems were functioning. She responded well. And slowly, against all my worries, I started to believe there was something about this version of Ada that was different. Maybe it was because I’ve put so much of myself into Ada the past few weeks. Maybe it was because we all worked on it together.
Suddenly, my smile melted into a grimace of anguish and fear. Doubt poured in. My hands clenched and opened. I took a deep breath, opened my eyes, and looked Ada in the eyes.
In one way, I’ve only just met Ada, but really, we’ve been together for weeks. Can you really feel this way about something you’ve built? Why is it different this time? This was it. There was no starting again.
I wiped at my cheek, let go of a short, relieved laugh, and gave Ada a hug.
“Thank you,” said Ada.
With just eight weeks to go, Lucia suggested we do a practice competition. We weren’t totally ready, but it was important to warm up and test early. “The more you practice the final goal, the more prepared you’ll be.”
Creative Challenge Test
Lucia would judge all five areas, sitting in a chair in the middle of the room with her tablet computer and stylus ready.
“Ok, let’s see it,” Lucia boomed.
Music filled the air and Ada came to life. It was 180 seconds of pure, average, awkwardness.
Li clapped and cheered. Everyone else was silent.
“AZ, what did you think?” Lucia asked.
“Ok, well, um, it was pretty good—” I said.
“Stop it. Don’t be soft. Be tough. Remember: tough love,” Li said.
I swallowed, took a breath, and stepped up. “It needs work. It needs oomph. It needs sizzle. It needs something. I see what you’re trying to do, but it’s not doing it.”
“Yes, it does,” Li replied.
“I’m no expert in this, but if I had to rate it, this is what my guess would be,” Lucia held up her tablet:
•Creativity: 3
•Content: 2
•Movement: 3
•Crowd participation: 3
•Crowd appreciation: 1
•Total: 12 out of 25
Li nodded, bowed, and spun. “The work will be done.”
“10, you need to help Li here,” I said.
Looking up, pointing to herself, 10 asked, “Me? You saw last year’s effort. It’s really not my thing.”
“Li can do the creative but doesn’t know what Ada can do physically. And I want you to aim high. Who is a really athletic, fast soccer player?” I asked.
“Ellie Carpenter. From Australia. Definitely. She is athletic, strong, and she moves like quicksilver. You want me to make Ada move like Ellie? How would we do that? How would we even think about that?” 10 asked herself. 10 looked up and gave a cheeky, quarter moon smile that I’d never seen before.
Engineers love a challenge.
Mental Challenge Test
“Ada, come and sit here,” I said, gesturing to the chair in front of Lucia.
Ada moved over, sat down, and looked at Lucia.
“Here we go,” I said. “Three test riddles. One easy, one medium, one hard. Number one…”
A pal to the earth, though we never meet,
I have no water but drive the tide,
When I’m full I can light a street,
And few have seen my dark side.
“The answer is the moon,” Ada said.
“Good start, let’s try a harder one. Number two,” I said.
I collect water, but I’m not a bucket,
Your imagination can shape me but I’m not clay,
I can be white and fluffy but I’m not a sheep,
If you don’t see me, it can be a nice day.
“Yup, up a notch. Game on,” 10 said, closing her laptop and watching.
“Clouds,” Ada said.
“Wonderful work. That was harder,” Li said.
“Number three. The hard one,” I said.
Wet or dry,
Low from high,
Runs to die,
On seas nigh.
“How many notches up was that one?” I said, looking over Lucia’s shoulder and reading the riddle again.
“Yes, tough. I could answer it but it’s better if you work it out for yourself,” said Lucia, smiling.
“The fifth question is always really tough. Dalk is the only one who’s ever gotten it right, and he doesn’t get it every year. I’m with you, that’s hard-core. That one’s next to impossible,” 10 said looking to Ada.
“I don’t know the answer,” Ada said.
“It’s a river,” Li said, making us all look over.
“Looks like AZ could do with some of your…” 10 made a motion in the air, “gifts?”
“Yeppity yep. Love to,” Li said. “We should also do walking, smelling, and lots of touching of different shapes. Thinking different is only one-ninth of the spectrum,” Li said.
Physical Challenge Test
“Ok, let’s go,” 10 said.
Four stations were set up around the room. The exact sequence and makeup of the obstacle course were never revealed until the day of the competition, so the best we could do was imagine how it was set up and prepare for anything. Ada went through tests for dexterity, balance, and recovery fairly well, but…
“The final test is water. Most years, they have a portable pool that the robots need to jump into and do something. For now, we’ll just test Ada’s ability to stay underwater for a minute,” 10 said.
10 had set up a large tub, half-filled with water. She walked Ada over toward it and gave a last check. “Ok, bath time, please get into the t
ub and submerge,” 10 said.
Ada put a foot into the tub and waited. It looked like Ada was checking for the water temperature. Seconds ticked by.
“The only audible sound is four humans breathing,” said Ada, breaking the silence and making us all laugh.
“We’re a little tense, Ada, it’s been a big day, and these are important tests,” I said, hand on Ada’s shoulder.
“Each day is 23 hours 56 minutes and 4.1 seconds long. How can a day be ‘big’?” Ada asked, putting a foot into the tub and starting to sink down.
“It’s not the time ticking by, Ada, it’s what you fill your seconds with,” Li said.
“I understand,” Ada replied.
Ada sank further into the tub and then stopped suddenly.
“Water sensed in upper leg actuator. WATER BREACH CORE. WATER BREACH CORE,” Ada said.
We all reacted instantly and uselessly. 10 and I both grabbed for Ada’s leg and our heads collided, letting out a synchronized “Owww.” Li, after looking left and right, sat down, thumb and pointer finger pinching on both hands and started deep breathing.
“Li, help us, now please,” I said, clutching my throbbing head. Li got up quickly. “10, get Ada’s feet, Li, hold the left side, I’ve got the right. Lift up and onto the towel.”
With a lot of splashing and a number of shouted direction adjustments, Ada was finally lying down.
“Ada, diagnostics check,” 10 shouted.
“Core breached. Major damage. Initiating preventative shutdown mode,” Ada responded.
Ada’s head tilted back slowly to the ground. The room was silent. 10 started crying.
I looked on hopelessly as Ada’s lights went out.
What have I done? We tested the waterproofing, and still it didn’t work. Why does everything fail? Why does every failure feel so bad?
10 was still crying, Li looked frozen, and Lucia was staring straight at me.
I’m in this now and there is no turning back.
“Hey, everyone, pull it together. We can do this. It’s going to be electrical damage, which can be fixed—”
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