Wojek

The Wojek

Like the Q-tip, kleenex, and weedeater, Wojek is a brand. The Wojek Corporation of Poland, Atlantic Federation, is the preeminent manufacturer of non-military industrial automatons in the Atlantic Federation. For years, their robots worked in near anonymity as no one in the media or the general population cared about the machines and delta class clones who keep the machinery of the Cosmic Era running. It wasn't until the Wojek corp submitted the basic design for a police and law enforcement robot. The machine was simple and elegant compared to other machines in that line of work. Most other police enforcement robots started as military machines or as armored human interaction and resource robots.

The core of the Wojek Enforcer is its commercially solid state cortex, based off of CogNet viral intelligences and mated to the solid tried and true technology foundation of the skeletron. This confluence of technologies, sitting at a crossroads of political, economic and social unrest, fostered the rapid growth and development of the robots. The Wojek Enforcers were more quickly associated with the Wojek name plate and not the Enforcer designation. The 'Wojeks' were deployed with SWAT teams, Para-military search and rescue, and crowd and riot control units. This showed that the machines were viable in their roles, and were able to do so in a cost effective manner. The Wojek became synonymous with Security robot and after a decade, all security robots, regardless of make or model, became Wojeks.

A lone wojek patrols the demilitarized zone in an arco rim. Riots and rebels armed with heavy weapons prompted a heavy response. After arco mecha withdrew, wojeks were deployed to oversee the repair of infrastructure and hunting down surviving rebels.

The Factory

The Wojek principle factory is located in Poland, not far from Warsaw. The industrial arco is part of an industral arco-plex that is heavily involved in heavy manufacturing. The facility produces not just security robots, but military robots, mecha, power armor, and other heavy goods used by the Atlantic Federation military. Its location, being in close proximity to the border with the Eurasian Alliance and territory torn by strife and unrest caused by Armas ensures that the Warsaw region is heavily supported by the Federation military. The facility typically hosts a full Federation mech regiment, as well as either a Federation squadron of destroyers, or an air battleship.

Skeletrons versus Wojeks

Skeletrons are the most simple iteration of the mechanoid, functional, cheap, easy to repair and inexpensive to discard. Wojeks are similar, following the simple design and functionality but are more sophisticated, and are more able to function around people in roles other than shooting and destroying. The greater ability of the cortex used allows for wojeks to talk and interact with humans on a daily basis. This further allows for the wojeks in the field to issue citations, request and verify identification and other documentation, and otherwise function as police and law enforcement officers would. Where skeletrons are almost completely mute, the wojek is able to speak, though they do so seldomly. Most humans have a tendency to dismiss babbling robots. When the wojeks do bother to speak, it is with a deep and somewhat intimidating tone, and most people are inclined to comply with the machine's commands.

Role

The Wojek has a similar role in the favelas and urban rims around the arcologies, and within the arcologies that skeletrons have in the field outside. In the Cosmic era, there are parapsychics, energy weapons, mind control devices and powers, and a huge variety of things that would very quickly slaughter even the best prepared standard police patrol officer. The Wojek is substantially tougher, and can withstand improvised explosives and most conventional and civilian grade firearms with a degree of functionality. Likewise, on the other end, a group of high powered PCs can face off against wojeks and not be forced to hold back because they are fighting machines, not flesh and blood human beings. It also gives physically aspected characters a chance to shine, as well as technopaths and technomancers to use their powers. Hackers and such can steal control of the wojeks (a felony of course) gun adepts can shoot them up, parapsychics can unleash their biggest powers, and everyone can have a good time.

Plus there are thousands of wojeks, allowing for them to force PCs to move, or burn through ammo and power before facing a real baddie, rival ops team, etc.

Meta Level

Normally something as mundane as a security robot wouldn't get it's own write up, but one of the problems that often afflicts sci-fi is a certain lack of society and culture in the existing technologies. We like shorthand, and nicknames and a lot of sci-fi likes to use long names and acronyms. He's not a law enforcement officer, he's a popo, a five-o, the fuzz, etc. The other factor that is often overlooked is that the creative energy generated within a society is done at the 14-24 year old demographic. These are the people who name things, and what the entertainment industry, and related general industries are aimed at (Yes, I know this is a huge generalization but statistically 14 year old girls determine what pop music is more than anyone else)

The police robot (how many though Pol-Rob, CopBots, and other combinations/variants on this?) is going to be identified by brand, to the point that the brand name trumps everything else. And thus, wojeks are metal and plastic cops.