Zhang Yuan opened his pack of seafood noodles as he decided to fill his stomach first.
However, when the young man smelt the scent of food, his Adam's apple unconsciously bobbled up and down.
"Do you want some? I'll split half with you."
"Ah, thanks! I've been choosing which baby to bring for an entire day and forgot to eat."
After a meal, the both of them were soon acquainted with each other.
The young man's name was Ye Kaifu and he had the same education level as him, both of them were undergraduates.
However, he was an eighth-grade fitter and was proficient in various manufacturing specialties.
Zhang Yuan asked in curiosity, "Isn't that the job where you need to file down an iron ball with a file?"
He wondered how high the salary of an eighth-grade fitter was. But, without a doubt, it was definitely higher than his!
"Instead of describing it simply like filing a ball, we use basic tools such as a file, grinder, polishing machines to grind a clump of iron into whatever shape we need. Moreover, we do this job with our naked eye and intuition. For eight-grade fitters, our works are always within the allowed deviation, which is about the width of a strand of hair."
"The width of a strand of hair? That's really difficult, and you just rely on your eyes and intuition to be so accurate," Zhang Yuan said in amazement.
Ye Kaifu further explained, "It's manageable if you're skilled enough, but we have to rely on advanced tools for parts that require more precision."
"Wow, you must be really good!" Zhang Yuan praised.
"Nah, there are many others who are better than me… There's still ninth-grade and tenth-grade fitters above me."
Zhang Yuan sighed internally. Everyone on Earth Age had an expertise of their own. He might possibly be the most mediocre out of all of them.
Of course, that was only true for his former self.
These fitters were trained so that they could rapidly restart civilization. Due to the limited space on the spaceship, it was impossible to bring every single type of industrial machine, causing some parts to be produced by hand.
However, the power of humans should not be underestimated.
After he finished the noodles in two to three mouthfuls, Zhang Yuan stared at the metal components scattered all over the floor and started to look through them.
He was also a mechanical enthusiast and had participated in various robotics competitions during his university days.
Although his programming skills were considered good, due to his lack of hands-on ability, he crashed and burned in a pretty ugly manner.
Ye Kaifu was radiant with delight as his eyes twinkled.
When talking about his babies, it was like scratching an itch of his. "This is my work during the ESL robotics competition. This is from the national competition. This… this… and this…"
"Did you file all the parts by yourself?" Zhang Yuan curiously asked.
"How can that be possible? The sensors and some more sensitive parts were bought but most of them are indeed made by hand."
"What about the algorithm?"
"Erm, it is also written by myself…" When Ye Kaifu talked about this topic, his expression was slightly unnatural.
It was because… he had accidentally become a lackey during his university days.
Whenever he participated in competitions, he would always bring his 'girlfriend', 'girlfriend's male bestie'; it was equivalent to bringing two deadweights.
No matter how skilled he was, the things he could do alone were limited. As a result, he had never once won a competition.
In the end, the lackey ended up with nothing and he decided to leave this sad world in a fit of anger.
Zhang Yuan chuckled and said, "You don't need to mope around anymore. I've also participated in such competitions and ended up winning nothing. I know how difficult it is to win a competition.
While they were talking, Zhang Yuan casually picked up something similar to a mechanical arm and curiously checked it out.
Its outer appearance looked nice, with a feeling that it would burst forth with immense power; it looked good enough to be used in films.
And when he carefully weighed it, he found out that the arm weighed around 20kg!
It would require loads of time to even design a mechanical arm, let alone create one. Moreover, to create a mechanical arm would require so much expertise in so many areas like biology and kinesiology. And to make an arm like this, was no joke.
The guy was really a genius!
When Ye Kaifu noticed him aweing at the mechanical arm, his expression turned proud as he said, "I spent a total of four months making this powered armor to win the second prize in the Galaxy Competition. It was also loaned to film the movie, Terminator 100!"
"Powered armor?"
"Actually, I've only managed to build one arm. Anyway, if you move your arm, it can copy your movements. Do you want to give it a try?"
"Yes!"
With great interest, Zhang Yuan looked at the extremely tight leather gloves that were around his hand.
There were wires on the glove that connected to the mechanical arm.
When the switch was turned on, the sound of ignition could be heard, similar to how a motorbike would sound when it started up.
Ye Kaifu made some adjustments and said, "It's done, you can try moving it."
Zhang Yuan tried making a fist with his hand.
Following which, he heard the mechanical arm moving. It copied his movements, clenching its hands into a fist.
He relaxed his fingers and the mechanical arm also followed suit.
Zhang Yuan curiously asked, "This glove is a pressure transmitter, right? That famous MIA pressure sensing system?
"That's right!" In the face of someone who had the relevant knowledge, Ye Kaifu became even more energetic as he talked about the various details of his robots.
"Try flattening this can." He picked up a can and passed it to the mechanical arm.
Zhang Yuan carefully moved his arm and saw the mechanical arm following his movements. After he gripped on the aluminium can, he exerted force on his fingers.
*Crank*
The aluminium can released an ear-piercing sound and was crushed into a crumpled mess.
"The maximum grip strength of this arm can reach up to 320kg! The grip strength of ordinary humans is only at 5.6kg."
Ye Kaifu wiped his forehead sweat and said, "How do you feel, after testing it?"
"Don't mention the pros, only talk about the cons. Otherwise, I will not be able to make up my mind to not bring it with me."
"You really want me to talk about the shortcomings?" Zhang Yuan scratched his head. "I don't know where I should start…"
"Go ahead, don't be polite!" Ye Kaifu said firmly.
"Erm, when I operate it, it's somewhat similar to an excavator…"
"Firstly, there's no feedback to the operator, and if not for my eyes, I would not know if the arm has grabbed onto an object. I also can't tell how much strength I have used. Compared to the human body, there is a lack of touch and it's so heavy that it's inconvenient."
Ye Kaifu went into deep thought as he nodded in agreement. "Indeed. Without any feedback, we can only use our eyes to gauge it."
Zhang Yuan continued, "Secondly, I can't seem to control the grip strength. It crushed the can in a second when in fact, I only wanted to gently lift it up."
"That's right."
"Thirdly, there are some slight delays between me moving and it copying my movement. Also, maneuvering it is not a very smooth process. Furthermore, the distance the mechanical arm moved is different from how much I moved… Erm, how do I explain it? It's just not so accurate."
Even though Ye Kaifu was unhappy by his child getting insulted like that, he had to agree that what Zhang Yuan said was reasonable.
Moreover, he was the one who asked to be tortured.
He dropped his head and sighed. "Well, you're right. In hindsight, winning second place was a miracle. I shall abandon it then. Goodbye baby, let's meet in our next lives…"
After caressing for a while, he carried the mechanical arm and stored it in a box.
Zhang Yuan felt somewhat awkward. 'Was I too honest? I seem to have made it sound like it was a worthless piece of junk metal.'
He then hastily added, "Your model is pretty good though. When it moves, the gears don't inhibit its movement at all. In terms of its movement, it moved like a real arm. Plus, designing such an arm is already a great feat and your end product is considered pretty good."
"What use is there with a good model? In reality, there's no practical use for it—it's just a waste of time." Ye Kaifu shook his head and sighed again as he immersed in the sadness of losing his harem of beauties.
Zhang Yuan did not comment further based on Ye Kaifu's forlorn response and pushed this matter to the back of his mind.
'Since I have nothing to do, let's study. Studying always brings me happiness. But, what should I study…?' Zhang Yuan thought.
His previously accumulated knowledge continuously flickered in his mind.
All of a sudden, he thought of his father's laptop, and there seemed to be a pretty good idea written inside it.