AMH

Android Makers Handbook On-Line

As I created The Taxonomy of Androtics, a goal is the Android Makers Handbook. It is to guide and support the making of a Hatfield Type Android. Unfortunately, it is now outdated and was always incomplete. It may be little more than a good start. Extracts are here for your comment and contribution.

The handbook starts with a lot of the matters addressed within this site to a lesser or greater degree. These are like:

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

What is an android and why make one.

THE ANDROID'S PERSONALITY

OTHER ANDROIDS IN FICTION

ASSUMPTIONS

SCOPE AND PURPOSE

ODDS 'N' ENDS

All but one of these items were copied from the respective header of the first chapter in the source file. This first chapter set the stage as it were.

The second chapter, Plan of this handbook, starts the process. Some overhead about editions of the handbook is mentioned and the matter of protecting your work from loss is addressed. Most important, it contains the plan in the outline form.

This Plan's Structure page's source is the actual file from the respective development work directory. It will not be copied into the directory where I maintain these source files for this web site. Normal web site maintenance is not expected to touch this file. However, based upon your feedback and re-engineering, the respective project files will be reviewed and edited as needed.

Here is the Plan's Structure. That page is functional. You will need to use your browser's [Back] button to get to another destination. This is the overview of the Hatfield Type Android making process!

Chapter Three is STEP ONE: DEFINE YOUR ANDROID. The first step in making a Hatfield Type Android is to define your android's appearance or decide who you want your android to resemble. This includes the gender, apparent age, height, racial similarities, and other phenotype and anthropometric values. This should be quite well defined as it is primarily subjective. Subsequent Steps take the subjectivity to the measurable and then to the actual.

Here is the Third Chapter: Step One right out of the AMH source files. Again, this page is functional. You will need to use your browser's [Back] button to get to another destination.

The Hatfield Type Android Making process definition is in major flux! My mind experiment, The Android Maker, has inserted a very important Step between Step One and Step Two of the current Android Makers Handbook. Although the outline was updated, Plan's Structure, the current handbook has not been. There are too many breakthroughs needed and other developments may make this process better.

Chapter four of the handbook, STEP TWO: FIT THE MODEL assumes that you are working primarily from a picture of your android. If you have some other means such as a bust or even a living subject, then you need a different set of procedures until you progress into the "Produce Working Drawings" step.

This chapter is not neatly one .INClude file like for the First Step. Again, the first part of Fourth Chapter: Step Two is right out of the AMH source files. And again, this page is functional. You will need to use your browser's [Back] button to get to another destination.

The complete editions of the Android Makers Handbook will have more information on capturing some anthropometric measurements and specifications. That program is still a bit tedious, disorganized appearing, and most subject for major revision. If any model is put on this web site, it must be an older edition in deference to those who purchase this system. Even then, I must assure that the "seed values" are not my desire.

Chapter Four continues with the matters of taking face measurements from a photograph. Of course, the better the measurements, your android's likeness will be more faithful to your desire.

Finally, there must be a way to preview the expected results of your measurements, settings, and inputs. Quite honestly, the procedure in the text is old and crude ... to be kind. So I will spare you that waste of time. There have been many developments in 3D graphics that need be analyzed. In fact, VRML (virtual reality modeling language) is new to my process. Therefore, this is another area due revision.

Chapter Five is STEP THREE: MODEL SKELETAL SURFACES. The skeletal surfaces can not be modelled until the skin surface is shaped. Copied from the current master file's ".INClude" file:

... This step uses the skin surface model and the tissue thicknesses to produce the skeletal surfaces model in a manner like (a matrix subtraction):

Skin Surface (Model)
lessTissue Thickness (Charts)
===================================
Skeletal Surface (Model)

With the Skin surface modelled and the other elements selected; Android (base) Type, Racial Modifier, and Appearance Index Modifier; the appropriate Tissue Thickness Chart is automatically selected by the worksheet.

There is a very good reason why the skeletal surfaces demand so much attention: It is because the long bones determine a lot of a person's size and shape (their phenotype) and the facial bones form a lot of that person's appearance. A Hatfield Type Android is no different.

The length of long bones, such as the humerus, radius, and ulna prescribe a person's reach. The femur, tibia, and fibula determine partly how tall a person stands. An anomalous ratio between the leg bones, and the arm bones and the spinal column is related to whether a person is more "long-waisted" or "long-legged."

The bones of the pelvis are the most dominant indicator of the sex of the skeleton. Of course, the other bones help determine a person's height, stature, and gait.

Naturally, the facial bones of the skull underlie the shape of a person's face. The
supraorbital,
zygomatic,
occipital,
frontal,
nasal,
orbits, and
lower jaw (among others in [Gray, page 118]) are the more specific areas of attention. These surfaces (including the teeth) plus the tissue thicknesses, form the skin surface model.

The aforementioned may suggest that bones such as the palette or hyoid may not be essential to model. However, speech via windpipe mechanics may require a human-like palette and/or sinus passages.

There is more to the chapter, but that is the highlight. The remains are PLANNED MODIFICATION TO MODELING SYSTEM and PRODUCING THE OUTPUT, which are dimensions for the drawings and another preview.

STEP FOUR: PRODUCE WORKING DRAWINGS is the Sixth Chapter of the current and outdated Android Makers Handbook. The current edition of The Android Maker parses separate steps of the android's working drawings from that of the jigs and fixtures. Some of them my be made dependent upon the specifications of your android. Others may be generic to Hatfield Type Androids. These may be best to offer android makers a make or buy option.

Of course, jigs and fixtures must be made or acquired before a Hatfield Type Android can be created. Unproductive work stoppage when certain batters, formulations, glues, etc. are to be used must be avoided. This is the first step when materials are committed that is not usual design consumables.

With several Steps inserted between the last attempt at the handbook and the mind experiment, it is too confusing for me to continue this detail. Sorry to present my confusion. Clearly, the completed working drawings of the android make a good milestone. That is the point where 100% confidence in the plans and procedures is not just an ideal, it is a goal.

Some major fabrications have tolerance for recursive redesign and rework. Aircraft manufacturing is an example where in-process changes may or may not be feasible. In-process changes when making an android probably will not be feasible or reasonable. It would be a miracle to discover a needed change that would not affect or demand rework of an android's inner layers of fabrication. Such is possible, but not probable. Android makers need to go beyond mere "measure twice, cut once."

Want to contribute, comment, etc.? Write me! ... Your suggestions are welcome.

as of June 30, 2001 ... Back to The Android Maker site's home page.

R. Elaine Hatfield