Chapter 6
Hiro walked up to the mike. He looked out at the huge crowd ... and felt a heaviness in the pit of his stomach. They were all staring at him, waiting.
“Uh, hi,” Hiro said into the mike, which screeched with feedback. For a moment, his mind went blank. Then he saw Tadashi’s face in the audience as his brother moved to stand next to Aunt Cass. He was smiling and giving Hiro a thumbs-up.
Hiro smiled back and took a breath. “Sorry. My name is Hiro Hamada, and I’ve been working on something I think is pretty cool. I hope you like it.”
Hiro put on a headset and reached into his hoodie. He took out a small object no bigger than a paper clip. “This is a microbot.” The small object in his palm took a bow. “It doesn’t look like much,” Hiro continued, “but when it links up with the rest of its pals, things get a little more interesting.”
The crowd didn’t seem impressed. Then a murmur rose as the startled audience noticed waves of tiny microbots slithering across the floor. The single microbot flew from Hiro’s hand and joined a towering column of microbots that had now formed onstage.
Hiro smiled and tapped his headset. “The microbots are controlled with this neural transmitter.” He took the headset off and the microbots collapsed to the floor. They re-formed into a column as soon as Hiro put the headset back on.
“I think of what I want them to do,” Hiro said, “and they do it!” The microbots took the shape of a hand waving. Everyone in the audience smiled and waved back. “The applications for this tech are limitless. Take construction.”
Hiro stared at the microbots, and with a wave of his hand, they picked up cinder blocks and assembled them into a tower. “What used to take teams of people working by hand for months or years can now be accomplished by one person!”
Then the microbots lifted Hiro and placed him on top of the tower. In the audience, billionaire tech mogul Alistair Krei was very impressed.
“And that’s just the beginning,” Hiro said as he leaped off the tower. Everyone gasped, thinking he was about to fall, but the microbots rose and caught him midair. Hiro smiled. He could see Tadashi giving him another thumbs-up.
“How about transportation?” Hiro asked. The microbots transformed into a set of legs that walked Hiro through the audience. “Microbots can move anything, anywhere, with ease.”
As they approached the stage, the microbots formed a set of stairs so Hiro could climb back up to it. “If you can think it, the microbots can do it!” Hiro said.
The audience was with him now. The moment belonged to Hiro, and he was on a roll. “The only limit is your imagination! Microbots!” he exclaimed, and the audience burst into applause.
Hiro jumped off the stage and found Tadashi. The two high-fived as Aunt Cass shouted enthusiastically, “That’s my nephew! Whoo! My family! I love my family!”
第 6 章
小宏走向麥克風。他望了一眼黑壓壓的人群……感覺心里一陣沉重。人們都凝視著他,等待著。
“呃,大家好。”小宏對著麥克風說道,麥克風發(fā)出了尖銳刺耳的聲音。這一刻,他頭腦一片空白。隨后他看見泰迪的臉出現(xiàn)在觀眾中,他走到卡斯阿姨旁邊站定。他微笑著,豎起大拇指給他鼓勵。
小宏回視一笑,做了一個深呼吸:“抱歉,我叫濱田宏,我做了一些我認為超棒的設計,希望大家能夠喜歡。”
小宏戴上一個頭戴式耳機,把手插進連帽衫里。他拿出一個和曲別針差不多大小的東西。“這是個微型機器人。”那個小東西在他手掌里鞠了一下躬。“它看起來不起眼,”小宏繼續(xù)說道,“但當它和其他的微型機器人連接在一起時,就會變得有點意思了。”
觀眾似乎沒有被吸引。可當觀眾吃驚地發(fā)現(xiàn)大量的微型機器人一擁而入滑過地板的時候,他們開始不時地低語。小宏手中的微型機器人從他手中滑落,與其他的微型機器人一起在臺上組成了一個高聳的圓柱體。
小宏微笑著敲了敲他的頭戴式耳機。“微型機器人是由這個神經(jīng)傳導器控制的。”他把頭戴式耳機一摘掉,微型機器人就散落在了地板上。小宏把頭戴式耳機一戴回頭上,微型機器人就又重新組合了起來。
“我想讓它們做什么,”小宏說道,“它們就做什么。”微型機器人組成一個手的形狀揮動著。所有的觀眾都微笑著揮著手回應。“這項科技的應用領域是無窮無盡的。以建筑工程為例!”
小宏看著微型機器人一揮手,它們就毫不費力地分解并重新組合成一座塔。“以前需要大量人力耗費數(shù)月甚至數(shù)年的時間去完成的項目,現(xiàn)在只需要一個人就能夠完成!”
這時,微型機器人將小宏舉起,把他放在了塔的頂端。作為觀眾的一員,億萬富翁兼科技大亨阿利斯泰·格利非常感興趣。
“這只是個開始,”小宏說著猛地從塔上跳下。所有人都為之倒吸了一口氣,以為他會從上面摔下來,但微型機器人升了起來,在半空中將他接住。小宏笑了。他看到泰迪又對他豎起了大拇指。
“把它運用到交通上又會怎么樣呢?”小宏問道。微型機器人變成一雙腿的形狀,使小宏能夠在觀眾中間隨意穿行。“微型機器人能輕易地運輸任何東西到任何地方。”
當它們接近講臺時,微型機器人變成了一組樓梯,讓小宏能夠從上面走回講臺。“只要你能想得到的,微型機器人就能做得到!”小宏說道。
現(xiàn)在觀眾都被他的作品吸引住了。此刻是屬于小宏的,他的發(fā)揮異常順利。“想象力才是你唯一需要突破的屏障!微型機器人!”他大聲宣布著,觀眾爆發(fā)出了熱烈的掌聲。
小宏跳下講臺找到了泰迪。兩人擊掌慶祝時,卡斯阿姨興奮地喊道:“那是我的侄子!哇哦!是我的家人!我愛我的家人!”