Automatic Robotic Arm

The summer downpour lasted all night. It finally began to ease as dawn approached.

At five thirty in the morning, before the sky had even begun to brighten, Ning Yifan changed into his running clothes and headed out, braving the drizzle.

The downpour had cooled the sweltering September city considerably. It was much cooler out for his morning run.

It was just past five, usually the quietest time of day in the city. With the drizzle still falling, there were hardly any taxis or cars on the streets as he jogged along.

In a city with a population of several million, it seemed as if Ning Yifan was the only person left, running steadily forward.

The rain soaked his hair and T-shirt, bringing a rare sense of exhilaration. He ran along the same streets he took every morning, but with the fine rain and gentle breeze accompanying him, Ning Yifan was a little faster than usual.

Still, when he reached the breakfast shop, the owner had already opened for business. Rain or shine, people working to make a living were always up early.

"Three meat buns, three vegetable buns, and a cup of soy milk, please."

"Sure thing. You're still out running in the rain today?" The owner was used to Ning Yifan being his first customer every morning and skillfully packed several large buns for him.

"Running only means something if you stick with it. Besides, it's become a habit. When I skip a day, it feels like something's missing. And that feeling of sweating while I run is really satisfying!"

"Impressive!" The owner gave him a thumbs-up.

After paying and taking his buns, Ning Yifan headed back toward his apartment complex, as usual eating breakfast on the way.

Back in his rental, he took a hot shower and started work feeling refreshed.

It had been ten days since the projectors sold out. The projector components he'd ordered from more than a dozen suppliers would all be arriving throughout the day. It was time to start assembling and selling the next batch!

Compared to before, when he'd worried about how many he could sell, this time all he had to do was assemble the projectors and list them for sale.

And he could leave the assembly work to the Automatic Robotic Arm.

In the afternoon, an SF Express courier braved the drizzle, which was still falling, and carried Ning Yifan's parcels from the delivery van into the rental, one box at a time.

Even though the parcels were all for Ning Yifan, the courier had to make four trips. Each time, he loaded his three-wheeled delivery vehicle to the brim. By the end, he joked that next time he'd bring a van to make the delivery!

Box after box of components and equipment filled the rental, once again leaving the room crammed to the rafters.

It was even more crowded than before. Nearly every inch of the room was taken up by all kinds of components, with only a narrow passage left connecting the bedroom, study, workshop, and kitchen.

Most of the components were for the projectors. The rest were the various parts Ning Yifan had ordered for the Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arm.

As soon as the deliveries began arriving in the afternoon, Ning Yifan threw himself into a hectic stretch of work. First, he sorted out all the parts for the Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arm and carried them into the workshop. Then he began assembling and calibrating it.

After two or three hours of work, all the cardboard boxes that had held the components lay empty, flattened and stacked to one side. The layout of the workshop had changed once again.

The worktable was still in the middle of the room, but now a robotic arm about two meters long stood on it. Beneath the arm sat a square control unit, bolted to the tabletop.

Made of thick iron plating, the sturdy, heavy-duty casing measured one meter on each side. Inside was the machine's brain, a control system made up of a motherboard, CPU, and other computer components, along with a high-speed network receiver. The motors that controlled the arm's rotation and operation were housed there, too.

The casing below held the brain and heart of the Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arm. Above it was the arm itself: a two-meter-long structure with upper and lower arms, much like an excavator. At its tip were three grippers resembling fingers, equipped with small motors, pressure sensors, distance-measuring devices, and more.

Besides the Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arm itself, the room also had more than twenty cameras and sensors with different functions. Together, these devices could precisely detect every change in the room and relay the information to the arm's computer. The computer could then process it and control the arm through the entire assembly process, from picking up components to putting them together.

This was the first-generation Automatic Robotic Arm. The parts available limited it to a design not much different from the equipment used in large automated factories. Once Ning Yifan could make components himself, there would be plenty of room for improvements—for example, building robotic arms like Doctor Octopus's in the Spider-Man movies, only more agile and stronger.

"Finally, it's done!" Ning Yifan had worked from the afternoon until nightfall. Looking at the long robotic arm standing motionless on the worktable, which had once been his dining table, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although Ning Yifan had a photographic memory and was certain he'd followed the assembly instructions correctly, he still went through the testing procedure he'd learned in his dream.

Without a ping-pong ball on hand, Ning Yifan took an egg from the fridge to use as a substitute. He placed it beside the Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arm, then set out a pen and a sheet of paper.

He plugged in the arm and pressed the start button. The machine powered up and began its self-check. The long arm rotated twice around the room, its three finger-like grippers closing on empty air as the upper and lower arms moved back and forth. After about a minute, the initial self-check was complete. A green light came on, indicating that everything had passed.

The computer controlling the Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arm ran the same operating system Ning Yifan was familiar with. The software running on it, however, was his own creation: a program for operating the robotic arm.

Using the small fifteen-inch touchscreen mounted on the machine, Ning Yifan opened the software and selected the first robotic-arm test: gripping.

Once he tapped Start, all the cameras and sensors sprang to life. The arm located the egg on the worktable among all the objects in the room. Its upper and lower arms bent, and the joint at its tip rotated 360 degrees. Then the three grippers picked up the egg with precision.

The egg remained unbroken. The grip was just right. Holding it, the arm rotated its joint once more, then gently moved its upper arm, lower arm, and grippers in coordination. The egg left the grippers and sailed into the air.

The arm tossed the egg, then swiftly caught it again. It tossed it, caught it, and repeated the process ten times. The egg was still intact. The first test was complete!

Next came the writing test. After setting the egg aside, the arm gripped the pen on the table. It adjusted the angle slightly, then began writing on the paper.

"Test results: excellent. Ready for equipment assembly!" The three grippers held the pen steadily, and the writing came out as neatly as if it had been printed.

The robotic arm was running perfectly, just as Ning Yifan had expected.

After tidying up the room, Ning Yifan carried box after box of projector components into the workshop. He opened all the packages and switched on the Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arm.

With help from the various sensors and dozens of high-definition cameras, the robotic arm started working in the workshop. It accurately picked out the components it needed from among the many parts, then began assembling the projectors.

In less than three minutes, it had finished assembling and testing a projector. It packed it into a prepared cardboard box, added the power adapter, HDMI cable, and other accessories, then sealed the box. The projector was ready to go!

The entire process took three minutes, meaning it could assemble twenty projectors in an hour!

The room was still too small. If it were bigger, he could set up several more robotic arms like this one and arrange them into an assembly line. With everything calibrated, they might be able to assemble a projector in a minute or even less!

Unfortunately, he still didn't have enough money to buy a factory.

All the money Ning Yifan had at the moment had gone toward buying projector components.

After watching the Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arm run smoothly for a while, Ning Yifan left it alone. All he had to do now was replenish the parts it needed every so often, then take the finished projectors out of the workshop and store them elsewhere.

That was much more convenient than doing all the assembly himself!

Once he had money, he could even automate the supply of components and the delivery of finished products. That would be perfect!

The Automatic Robotic Arm could assemble twenty projectors an hour. It had been running nonstop ever since Ning Yifan finished assembling and testing it. By the next morning, it had already completed more than half the batch.

Once all three hundred projectors had been assembled, Ning Yifan relisted them in his online shop and began selling them. He also messaged each customer who had followed the shop.

The Phantom Projector was finally back on sale. For customers who'd been waiting for many days, it was news they'd been eagerly anticipating!

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