Rusty Manufacturing was founded by Rustybot in the year 2172 as a way to slip through a legal loophole and regain communication with Earth following his termination from Flow two years prior.
Rusty Manufacturing is notable for its extragalactic nature, being the first and only human corporation based in Andromeda.
In the modern day, Rusty Manufacturing focuses on the advancement of spaceborn automation and laser technology.
Notable Technology
Drones
A Drone is any Rusty Manufacturing unit capable of being controlled by a Pilot. Drones range from Bitbots to Alpha Drones and can have a wide variety of functionality, but are primarily used for the automation of manual labor.
A Rusty Drone does not house the Pilot’s consciousness on board. Instead, the Pilot controls its body through QEC from the comfort of Dataspace.
Alpha Drones
Alpha Drones are equipped with multiple Underspace Harvester Cores, Microfabricators, and countless weapon systems. These drones are capable of self repair and indefinite uptime. Pilots in these units usually lead exploration missions and expansion initiatives by using their capabilities to perform the duties of a Von Neumann Probe.
The Prime Unit
While a Prime Unit is often referred to as a separate type of drone, this distinction is only a form of utility to denote which Alpha Drone is currently being inhabited by Rustybot. There is no physical change in the structure of the drone.
Beta Drones
Beta Drones are often assigned to an individual production facility. They have limited combat capabilities but extensive sensor suites.
Gamma Drones
Gamma Drones are universal manual labor machines. Not much more than a hull and motors. Often a few dozen exist alongside each Beta.
Bitbots
Bitbots are a subset of Rusty Drone that consist of a hover thruster, display screen, and interaction beam array. They often act as autonomous power tools or surveillance units. The primary purpose of a Bitbot is to perform maintenance, especially in small or otherwise hard to reach places. Unlike the majority of Rusty Manufacturing robotics, Bitbots are true A.I., meaning they are synthetic neural networks and not a copy of an uploaded human mind.
Underspace Harvester Cores
Underspace Harvester Cores (UHCs) were perhaps the most critical step in Rusty Manufacturing’s extragalactic expansion. Due to The Primary Timeline’s near-impermeable lower membrane, Underspace was not a concept humanity was aware of prior to Toby Tsur discovering it. With infinite energy at his disposal, a great many technologies that would normally be unfeasible are unlocked for Rustybot.
Microfabricators
With the advent of nanotechnology, rapid manufacturing took off like never before. Though inefficient at scale, nanites housed in chambers called Microfabricators saw a near-instant rise in popularity on Earth in the 2130s. Few are larger than a few meters in size due to the massive amount of heat they generate, but “M-fabs” can create anything in seconds as long as the proper materials and schematics are provided. Rusty Manufacturing improved this technology further by designing M-fabs that are also capable of processing raw ore into refined metals. The process is slow and thermally taxing, but allows for the prolonged use of M-fabs to environments without access to frequent resupplies.
Digital Systems
Pilots
A Rusty Pilot is a complex set of algorithms created by Rustybot to mimic his own line of thinking. Early in his industrialization of Quindlet, he tried to mitigate the fact that working alone while attempting to expand production would lead to diminishing returns. By recording and archiving his own thought patterns, he was able to create a system that would react to input just like he would if he were present. The result is a set of ever-expanding pre-programmed responses to stimuli that effectively allow him to be in multiple places at once.
If Underspace Harvester Cores are the most important physical technology Rusty Manufacturing developed, then the Pilot system is undeniably the most important digital breakthrough. By personally completing a task just one time, he can then let his systems perform it on repeat. This essentially allows Rustybot to automate manual labor.
Once the first Beta Drone was built and its Pilot connected, Rusty Manufacturing’s expansion capabilities went from additive to exponential.
Dataspace
Dataspace (not to be confused with The Datanet), is a digital representation of Rusty Manufacturing’s systems. Rather than being a single simulated environment, Dataspace is the culmination of RM’s computational power. Every server hub, research facility, production complex, and drone is directly connected via QEC circuitry. The result is a web of information and calculations flowing to and from every piece of equipment the company produces simultaneously.
In a certain sense, Dataspace can be thought of as the brain behind the company, forming Rusty Prime.
Resources
Rusty Manufacturing has access to highly advanced production facilities all throughout the Quindol system.