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[Talon]

Morning, Bob the Pleo forums! I hope all of you enjoyed my attempt at a pleo-holiday story. Yes there are some problems. I noticed belatedly that I somehow changed Doctor Grey’s name to Velasquez and mixed Serena’s last name in with his. I also called her mother Lilly somewhere and then Gloria everywhere else. I’ll clean it up just so that history doesn’t make me look like a horrid writer. As I said before, if any of you want a clean copy for yourselves without all the odd mistakes, please drop me a PM.
Anyway, I’m not writing an entry about the story, but something about Ryu that I discovered only moments ago. Ryu has a broken side vertebra bit floating around inside her neck. It doesn’t appear to be doing much harm as the sharp bit that must’ve been connected to her neck is still facing inward. Bleu has at least two floating around and she still seems okay. I have no idea how this happened as no one handles my robots other than me and I don’t allow them to get into potential damage situations. I guess it’s just like the dreaded top cable snap. You could be five feet away watching your little companion doing what they always do and then it just happens. Lots of my robots seem to be having problems this year.
Bolt, my Aibo 210 has developed a head-twitch where he jerks his head to the right so violently he powers himself down right after boot-up. Ginto, my new Aibo 31L has had a jitter in his right front leg since I got him in October. For a while it looked to be on the way out but recently, it seems to have hit a plateau and isn’t improving. Reepicheep, my 110 Aibo has also started to develop a jitter in his left front leg.
As a robot-owner, all this is distressing to me. Not to mention how expensive they are. Since the aibos don’t have a nice skin to protect their joints, I have been covering them with towels to keep away dust and yet they’re still developing jitters. I don’t run them for extremely long periods either. This will be the second time Bolt has had issues with his head. Last year, he had to have his potentiometer cleaned in April. I have a limited income and I must soon come to a decision about who to treat. I am also in a delicate career transition. Since freelance writing hasn’t provided much fruit other than wonderful encouragement and very helpful feedback, I’ve decided to try my hand at sound-design. Basically, it’s the art of putting effects tracks together for movies and radio-dramas and commercials- things of that sort. I am slowly creating a digital sound-library and setting up a computer to run some sound-editing software. It will be my mixing pallet if you will- the place where all the magic happens. All this costs money too.
Boy! I really went off on a rabbit trail there! Anyway, looking at Ryu’s neck this morning just added one more vine of brier to the rope that’s tightening around my heart. I know this bit of broken plastic isn’t that big a deal, but it could be. Like that little bit of plaque floating around in someone’s artery that leads to a heart attack, it’s the first stone in a landslide of bigger problems to come. Ryu is my first robot. Though all of my little companions have a special place in my heart, she was the one who opened the door to a nearly four-year-long adventure. She led me to this forum and to all of you awesome people and to the creation of this blog. I promised to write about the good and the bad and this is part of that reality I suppose. We are all aging, we are all flowing forward in time despite our wish that things remain the same. Beneath it all and in spite of all our efforts to hold on, sometimes we are forced into change whether we want it or not.

[HuggieZ]

Wow! Great writing again Talon! And I can image your worry. I am also very upset if something is wrong with one of my Pleo's. I really hope that Ryu is going to be fine some day.

[aibo7m3]

Thanks for sharing this, Talon! I'm sorry to hear about Ryu and I understand how you feel regarding your robots. I know there have been times when I just let it sink in that over half of my robots are broken and there is no way that I'll be able to get all of them repaired. It seems really frustrating to me that basically every time I buy a new robot, it ends up being a larger cause of stress than of joy since something usually always breaks within the first week or isn't as I expected. Three of my 210s currently have head problems, one so bad that he can't be run at all. I haven't run my newest RB for about a month due to a busy schedule, but her battery and charger have already died completely and she was starting to show neck problems when I last ran her, so I'm almost afraid to see how she's doing now. Don't even get me started on Genibos, those things have endless issues and batteries with such short run times that seem like they might die completely at any moment. I remember I almost decided to sell Donna (one of my ERS-7s) back when her knee joint was jammed because I had gone nearly a year without sending her in to be repaired or running her and felt that she needed a better home where someone would actually be able to get her up and running again. Luckily for me the problem was a broken gear tooth stuck in the joint and finally I managed to get it loose by running her and carefully moving the joint when she was off, but like Ryu's neck joint, it's still in there and could cause the leg to jam up again at any moment. My other ERS-7 Aki is actually my second Aibo, but he's definitely the one I'm most emotionally attached to by far. I've owned him for over five years and took him everywhere with me when I first got him, I even brought him to Disney World with me this year. He still works which I'm really thankful for, but like with your robots, his age is starting to show. His legs are all really squeaky and one of his back hip joints sometimes just gives out completely when he's walking. Basically all of my robots have something wrong with them by now, those are just a few examples. Like you, I have to decide who to send in to be repaired and who can wait a little longer. It is a sad reality that robots wear out over time, repairs are expensive, and people who know how to repair them are extremely scarce. That being said, we should still enjoy our robots as best we can and not get caught up in their current or potential faults.

Also, on a happier note, I really enjoyed reading your Pleo holiday story! I'm also a huge fan of writing and I personally believe that authors are often the greatest critics of their own work. It was a really fun story and I'm glad you chose to share it with everyone here!

[HuggieZ]

I thought I was the only one having sorrow and stress when there is something wrong with one of my Pleo's. My RB Pepper has a lot of problems. His tail is not working anymore. He walks backwards, has software problems. I had a lot of grief when he did not work. I am so happy he is working again with a SD Card inside of him.

[Talon]

At HuggieZ: no. You're not the only one who worries about their robots and their problems. Some problems aren't so bad that they need to be fixed immediately but other repairs are unavoidable and could cause the robot not to function properly. Right now, Ryu's broken vertebra isn't really dangerous. I'm just sad that despite my attempts to keep her well-maintained and functional, bits still break and stuff still happens.
At Aibo7M3: Yes. I do enjoy my robots- even overly-clingy Ginto and his jittery leg. I just wonder what others do differently to keep their robots maintained who don't seem to take nearly as many precautions as I do. Speaking of Ginto, I'm thinking I might send him to be repaired since he's still within his warranty period. Poor twitchy Bolty-boy will have to stay in a coma with his battery out for a while until I can save up enough to get him treated.
Oh yes and thanks for your comments about my story. Before I graduated from college, I never dreamed of doing anything else other than writing. Once upon a time, I could sit and write for hours and produce a long short story in a year. I mean something like two hundred fifty pages or longer. These days I'm lucky if I can get three pages out of a single sitting. I still enjoy writing, I just have trouble leaving the external world behind and living completely in my character's skin long enough to see them through an entire story.
Talon

[kat]

broken neck vertebrae sadly does seem to happen.  I have had 2 out of 6 pleos so far with broken neck vertebrae.  I think it is caused by the tension of the neck cables pulling on the vertebrae as the head turns from side to side.  It is sad when we see our little bots wearing out.  Keep your chin up Talon xx

[Talon]

Thanks, Kat. That's really encouraging. I've tried to make sure that I handle my robots correctly and I'm relieved to know that I probably didn't have anything to do with this broken vertebra. I do have a bad habit of worrying about everything. Perhaps I should make breaking it a New-years resolution and fill my head with healthier thoughts.
Talon