X01 - Vermiculus
Project Lead: Dr. Garuda
Physical Description: The individual unit - the worm body - that makes up the Vermiculus prototype as a whole is a three inch long, roughly pencil-thick automaton consisting of a tubular mechanical body with a number of vine-like fleshy synthetic strips coiling around the worm in a series of helices. There are no apparent means of sensory organ approximations upon the worm body; similar to actual earthworms the Vermiculus can detect its surroundings by way of tremorsense, along with [CLASSIFIED] capabilities.
Individual units of Vermiculus will autonomously function, but the primary capabilities of the prototype become clearest when there is a sufficient mass of coordinating units. Each unit of Vermiculus can independently process the activities of a growing swarm in parallel. A swarm of Vermiculus units can also be referred to as Vermiculus in the singular, as all individual units will work as a cohesive, whole organism. The travel capacity of Vermiculus is two fold:
Either, Vermiculus will interact via microscopic surface tension locks on its synthetic flesh helices to bond together into a travel form similar to an orthogonal tumbleweed that performs acceleration and turns via the precise action of the body in contact with the ground, similar to cilia. Or, [CLASSIFIED] will occur when a sufficient mass of the units of Vermiculus can utilize each other similar to the kinesin protein.
Background: Vermiculus development accelerated with the integration of stochastic emergence as derived from the field of [CLASSIFIED], the primary brainchild of Dr. Garuta in their public research. The initial intent behind this project was pursuant of facilitating rapid, untraceable communications through processes akin to the biological phenomenon of collective intelligence; but the project rapidly shifted tack after it was proved to be highly potent in a weaponized state.
Prototypes for the Vermiculus model were produced in the dozens, as the correct segmentation of individual units of the intellectual and logical core of the machine proved to be a process of trial and error and extensive fine tuning. The Supervisory Committee twice nearly scuttled the project due to extensive idle periods. In the end the present optimized model of the Vermiculus hive mind proved immediately successful in a series of tasks at the Janus-Hayes Research and Development Campus, leading to the current fast tracking of the project into the final development stage. This model primarily operates off a model of ********** cognitive development, inspired per the project head by the functions of the immune system in recognizing and handling invasion.
Goals: The current objective of the project as of the Survival of the Fittest live test is to observe the learning capacity of Vermiculus in an extended stay afield, the longest it has yet experienced. Current records of prior prototypes suggest that the [CLASSIFIED] capacity of the machine will likely remain highly unstable and a possible detriment to extended deployment, and Development Group E has been advised to consider the full breadth of options in restraining the potential for exponential growth of the machine’s perceptive faculties. This aside, with sufficient proof of manageability in this regard Vermiculus may be the most intelligent and adaptable of the prototypes afield.
The current Vermiculus prototype intended for the field is one of several such assets that can be deployed: as noted by Dr. Garuda, the resource demands of the unit are fairly minimal with the current efficiency of the design. Their speculation that a graduate thesis could feasibly produce the Vermiculus with modest external funding is pending further investigation. Future deployments are pending immediate approval upon success in Survival of the Fittest.
Assets: The capacity of Vermiculus to [CLASSIFIED] means it will be capable of repurposing assets after their termination. The intelligence developed by the prototype is already proven to be fully functional and to allow the Vermiculus to develop and adapt approaches to the battlefield. This intelligence is then disseminated into the collective storage capacity of the worms and thus is not easily lost if damage occurs to the prototype within reasonable parameters. The decentralized operating model of the prototype is effective in ensuring it remains operational in most combat scenarios regardless of how much damage it may sustain.
Limitations: Only a sufficiently gathered mass of Vermiculus in a relatively sizable area of roughly one hundred by sixty meters is capable of sufficient computing intelligence to be able to perform cognitive tasks above the reflexive level, and more of this critical mass must be attained for actually intelligent approaches to prey. This critical mass exponentially scales relative to the gathered intellectual capacity of the prototype, and thus it will become more theoretically centralized and lose its theoretical ability to operate in multiple locations at once past a threshold of sentience that is yet unknown. The worms, without collective intelligence, will move without preferential direction in truly random motion: prior observations have proven the swarm can accidentally scatter itself to uselessness within forty eight hours without a clear target to consciously pursue.
Safety Procedures: Vermiculus responds to a killcode on an unused military radio frequency that will induce the horde to the location of the transmitter within the airport. At that location there are powerful electromagnets capable of disabling the full body of Vermiculus at once upon remote confirmation of the security codes provided to both Cmdr. Gardner and Dr. Sycamore. The horde can also be tracked by this same killcode via a dumb signal that will automatically ping the location of all individual units of the machine via GPS, allowing for surgical elimination via missile strike as required.