Tadashi took Hiro to his workstation. He rooted through a drawer and held up a roll of duct tape. Hiro sighed. "Hate to break it to you, bro— already been invented."

 

Suddenly, Tadashi slapped a piece of the tape on Hiro's arm. "Hey! What's your deal?" Hiro asked. Tadashi pointed¹ to a small red suitcase on the ground and yanked the tape off Hiro's arm.

 

"Owwww!" Hiro yelled.

 

A loud BEEP filled the room. The suitcase began to hum, and lights on it blinked to life. The top opened and a white vinyl form began to rise. When it was fully² inflated³, a huge, puffy figure stepped out of the suitcase.

 

"Hello, I am Baymax, your personal health-care companion," it said.

 

"This is what I've been working on," Tadashi said, gesturing at the robot.

 

Baymax turned to Hiro. "I was alerted to the need for medical attention when you said ‘Ow.' What seems to be the trouble?"

 

Hiro rubbed his arm and snapped, "Sibling⁴ abuse."

 

"I will scan you now," Baymax said. "Scan complete. You have a small epidermal⁵ abrasion⁶ on your forearm."

 

"You've done some serious coding on this thing, huh?" Hiro asked Tadashi. Even though Hiro was still annoyed at his brother, he was also impressed.

 

Tadashi walked over to Baymax and removed a chip from his access port. "I programmed him with more than ten thousand medical procedures and a caregiving interface⁷ that makes Baymax... Baymax."

 

"I suggest an antibacterial spray," Baymax stated.

 

Tadashi slid the chip back in. Hiro was impressed. "Vinyl?" he asked.

 

Tadashi smiled. "I was going for a nonthreatening, huggable kind of thing."

 

"Looks like a walking marshmallow." Hiro said, turning to Baymax. "No offense⁸."

 

"I am a robot," Baymax said as Hiro poked⁹ and prodded¹⁰ him. "I cannot be offended."

 

Hiro waved his hands in front of Baymax's eyes. "Hyperspectral cameras?" he asked before pushing his face into Baymax's stomach. "Titanium skeleton?"

 

"Carbon-fiber," Tadashi responded. "He can lift five hundred pounds. He's gonna help a lot of people."

 

Baymax sprayed Hiro's arm with a disinfectant, then handed him a lollipop¹¹. Hiro tasted it and said, "Sugar-free? Bleh."

 

"I cannot deactivate¹² until you say you are satisfied with your care."

 

"Well, then I am satisfied with my care," Hiro said. As Baymax deflated¹³ and folded neatly¹⁴ back into his red suitcase, a distinguished-looking man with graying hair approached them. It was Professor Callaghan.

 

"Burning the midnight oil, Mr. Hamada?" the professor asked. Then he looked at Hiro. "You must be Tadashi's brother. I've heard a lot about you. Bot-fighter, right?"

 

Hiro took his bot out of his pocket and fiddled¹⁵ with it.

 

Professor Callaghan reached for the bot, asking, "May I?"

 

Hiro handed it over, and Professor Callaghan studied it for a moment, then smiled. "Magnetic bearing servos—"

 

"Pretty sick, huh?" Hiro interrupted. "Want to see how I put them together?"

 

"Hey, genius," Tadashi said. "He invented them." Hiro's eyes widened and his jaw¹⁶ dropped. "You invented ... You're Robert Callaghan? Like, as in Callaghan's Law of Robotics?"

 

Professor Callaghan smiled. "That's right." He handed Hiro back his robot. "Have you ever thought about applying here?"

 

Tadashi said quickly, "Oh, I don't know. He's pretty serious about his career in bot-fighting." Hiro shrugged¹⁷. "Well, kind of serious."

 

"I can see why. With your bot, winning must come easy. And if you like things easy, my program isn't for you. We push the boundaries of robotics here." The professor put a hand on Tadashi's shoulder. "My students go on to shape the future."

 

Tadashi began to steer¹⁸ Hiro out the door. "Nice to meet you, Hiro," Callaghan called to him. "Good luck with the bot fights."

 

Hiro's mind was racing¹⁹. He wanted to stay and push the boundaries of robotics, too. When they were outside, Tadashi revved²⁰ up the scooter.

 

"You getting on?" Tadashi asked.

 

Hiro started pacing back and forth²¹. "If I don't go to this nerd school, I'm going to lose my mind. How do I get in?" he asked. Tadashi smiled, happy that Hiro wanted to attend San Fransokyo Tech. Tadashi's not-so-subtle plan had worked.

 

泰迪把小宏带到他自己的工作站。他翻遍抽屉，拿出了一卷布基胶带。小宏叹息道：“不想泼你冷水，哥，但这个已经有人发明了。”

 

冷不防地，泰迪将一段胶带粘在小宏的胳膊上。“嘿!你干什么?”小宏问道。泰迪指了指地板上的一个红色小手提箱，随即猛地从小宏的胳膊上撕下了胶带。

 

“嗷!”小宏大呼。

 

一阵响亮的哔哔声充斥着整个房间。手提箱开始哔哔作响，上面的灯闪烁着亮起来。箱子顶部自己打开了，一个白色乙烯基塑料的东西开始膨胀。充气完成后，一个胖胖的巨大的人形物走出了手提箱。

 

他介绍道：“你好，我叫大白，你的私人健康顾问”

 

泰迪指着机器人说：“这就是我一直在研究的东西。”

 

大白转向小宏。“你叫‘嗷’时，我就注意到你需要医疗护理。你怎么了?”

 

小宏揉搓着他的胳膊，气冲冲地说道：“兄弟的虐待。”

 

“我现在要对你进行扫描”大白说。“扫描完毕。你前臂有轻微的表皮擦伤。”

 

小宏问泰迪道：“你在编程上对这家伙下了不少功夫，对吧?”虽然小宏还在生他哥哥的气，但他对这项发明还是很震惊。

 

泰迪走向大白，从端口处取出一张芯片。“我给他编了一万多种医疗程序，还有护理界面，这才使得大白成为……大白。”

 

“我建议用喷雾消毒。”大白说道。

 

泰迪把芯片插回去。小宏很震惊。“乙烯基?”他问道。

 

泰迪笑道：“是啊，我要做成一个无害且惹人喜爱的东西。”

 

“他看起来就像个会走路的棉花糖。”说完小宏转向大白：“无意冒犯。”

 

在小宏戳捅它时，大白回答道：“我是个机器人，你的话不会伤害到我。”

 

小宏在大白的眼睛前面挥动着自己的双手。“超光谱镜头?”他把自己的脸埋进大白肚子问道：“钛合金骨架?”

 

“碳纤维。”泰迪回答道。“他能举起500磅重物。他能帮助很多人。”

 

大白给小宏的胳膊上喷了一些消毒剂，然后递给他一根棒棒糖。小宏吃着棒棒糖说道：“无糖的?不咋地。”

 

“你不说对我的这次护理感到满意，我就不能待机。”

 

小宏说：“好吧，我对这次护理感到很满意。”在大白放出气体，整齐地折叠回红色手提箱后，一位满头灰发、气质高雅的男士走近了他们。是卡拉汉教授。

 

“还在点灯熬夜啊，滨田先生?”教授问道。随后他看向了小宏：“你一定是泰迪的弟弟。我听说过很多关于你的事情。机器人格斗士，对吧?”

 

小宏把他的机器人从口袋里拿出来，不停地摆弄着。

 

卡拉汉教授的手伸向机器人问道：“能给我看看吗?”

 

小宏把它递了过去。卡拉汉教授看了一会儿，然后笑道：“磁性轴承体系”

 

“非常可怕，对吧?”小宏插嘴道。“想看看我是怎样把它组装起来的吗?”

 

“嘿，天才，”泰迪说，“那是他发明的。”小宏目瞪口呆地看着他：“你发明的……你是罗伯特·卡拉汉?卡拉汉机器人定律的那个卡拉汉?”

 

卡拉汉教授笑道：“没错”。他把机器人还给小宏。“你有没有想过申请这所学校啊?”

 

泰迪马上说道：“哦，我搞不清楚。他可是一门心思投入了机器人格斗事业。”小宏耸了耸肩：“嗯，算是当回事吧。”

 

“我知道为什么，有了你的机器人，获胜不费吹灰之力。如果你喜欢做简单的事情，那我的项目可不适合你。我们要做的是开创机器人学的新纪元。”教授把一只手放在泰迪的肩上。“我的学生都将塑造未来。”

 

泰迪正要领着小宏出门，卡拉汉说道：“见到你很高兴，小宏。祝你在机器人格斗赛中旗开得胜。”

 

小宏的大脑急速转动着。他也想留在这里开创机器人学的新纪元。出了门，泰迪发动了摩托车。

 

“上车吧?”泰迪问道。

 

小宏开始前后踱着步子，“如果我不来这所书呆子学校，我一定会发疯的。我怎么才能被录取?”他问道。泰迪笑了，很高兴小宏想要进旧金山理工大学读书。泰迪不算精妙的计划起作用了。

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