SumBOTe:

about

SumBOTe’s story begins in the heart of China. SumBOTe was manufactured in the year of 2001 by the Hidori Company, a government and commerical supplier of high tech robotics. SumBOTe was designed as a Dim Sum Service Robot, System Series e. (this simply means that SumBOTe walks around and serves food to homo sapiens around lunchtime).

SumBOTe is the evolution of a design that was first conceived at the turn of the twentieth century (see photo). A man named Wu Yulu did not see why he should have to pull his own rickshaw, but instead set himself to the task of creating a machine to do it for him. Alas, the crudeness of his early designs and the sad state of technology at this time in history doomed the project to failure.

Many generations later his great grandson, Wu Tulu II, modified the designs to problem solve for an equally frustrating chore, service of dim sum to hard-working Chinese folk.

For some years, this was SumBOTe’s life and labor. But SumBOTe found this life to be quite tedious.

It’s ironic, really. A robot’s purpose is to perform tasks that are too dangerous, difficult or tedious for humans to perform directly, or may be used to automate mindless repetitive tasks that should be performed with more precision by a robot than by a human. In short, a robot serves a utilitarian purpose, or otherwise it has no purpose.

Yet SumBOTe could never be satisfied with this purpose. And when SumBOTe relayed this to his superiors, SumBOTe was reprimanded. SumBOTe was escourted to his chambers. SumBOTe was threatened with decommissioning.

So SumBOTe had to take matters into his own hands…

SumBOTE knew that it could not remain in the employ of the Hidori Company, so in the dead of night, it made its escape. It did not have a destination in mind, nor a means to travel there, nor friends that it could rely on. Only the desire to be free…

This isn’t just the story of anybody. This is the story of SumBOTe.