Tag Archives: home

Home 49

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A futuristic spacecraft flying near a large, elevated structure above the clouds, surrounded by a dramatic sky.

Home 49 is a connected system that provides for the daily needs of Jack and Vika. It handles everything from morning breakfast, to video storage of previous missions, to maintenance of drones, to Jack’s personal weapons. The Home acts as both a residence and a watchtower, and is built on a slim stilt that reaches from ground level to above the cloud layer. This isolates Home 49 from the ground.

A woman in a sleek, modern kitchen standing by a counter with dishes, against a backdrop of a sunset and futuristic decor.

Inside, the home pod is broken down into ‘functional’ spaces. These include the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, armory, and maintenance shop. It is connected to the exterior doors, windows, observation platform, landing pad, and pool.

The entire facility is a prefabricated structure (or at least a set-plan concept), and we see a nearly identical facility in Area 52. Cosmetic differences and changes to color scheme suggest a modicum of customization for each instance of the team.

The Breakfast console interface is multimodal, changing as Vika’s tasks change. Its contents are heavily mediated by Sally is an intermediary agent during most of Vika’s console tasks, though her perspective and information seems limited to that received from the drones or from Vika.

A person's hand interacting with a futuristic touchscreen interface displaying maps and data in a spacecraft setting.

The Breakfast console seems to scale with the task, and is capable of highlighting particular subtasks in progress, while displaying a wealth of peripheral or supplemental data.

An Efficient Home

Diagram of a futuristic flying vehicle with labeled sections including Control Tower, Kitchen, Lounge/Dining Room, Pool, Balcony, Lounge, Bedroom, Landing Pad, and Support Stalk.

Home 49 appears to suit Jack and Vika’s needs perfectly. We never see them in need of information, or struggling to complete a task. Vika is able to quickly get to the information she is looking for, and controls always appear to be at a comfortable height.

A scene depicting two individuals in a futuristic setting, engaged in conversation near a large glass panel that reflects the sky.

A close-up of a hand pointing at two illuminated control buttons on a sleek, modern interface. The top button displays a lock symbol, while the bottom button features a triangle shape.

Special mention here goes to the door control, which requires almost no effort to activate. Opening the door is a generic gesture of touching the left hand pane of glass (from the inside, not the outside). Less used controls are etched into the glass on the right.

The only thing that would make the control easier would be to make it constantly visible. The button is in a logical spot and is used every day, so there is little likelihood of the users forgetting how to open the door. Etching a control for opening the door would provide an added level of comfort and reminder for the crew.

With invisible controls, even with constant use, there is a chance of accidentally hitting the wrong button.

In this case, an automatic door like at a grocery store would be a serious security and safety concern for the TET. Making an automatic door secure would require a complete redesign of the lock controls and the procedure for entering the home.

A woman walking on a balcony with a drink in her hand, overlooking a sunset.

Considering how high up the home is, accidentally opening the door when Vika is merely looking to select an option would be a dangerous issue in high winds. Thankfully, the home has extensive balconies which would mitigate an accidental door opening.

A person walking through a futuristic, dimly lit room with high-tech storage and equipment in the background.

When working on the drone, Jack always appears to have the needed tools at hand and within easy reach. His Armory is always ready, and his weapons are always prepared for a mission.

The Tet’s Hidden Goals

As revealed later, this home also serves the Tet’s goals perfectly. Home 49 is a confined space that is well above a height where Vika would feel any connection to the ground (either emotionally or physically). The home is wired with several sensors and cameras to watch over the two occupants.

Everything inside is crafted to appear human. The language, interactions, and accessories all reinforce memories of life before the War. This reinforcement hides the Tet’s alien technology under a layer of familiarity, and Jack never questions that he isn’t working on Human built machines.

Everything but the door

The only interface in Home 49 that can be found lacking is the main door control. It is invisible until pressed, and only works from the inside. We see elsewhere that the Drones have built in voice recognition, and only respond to their proper maintenance crew. This system could be implemented on the door to prevent unwanted entry by other maintenance crews.

A tense moment between two characters in a futuristic setting, with one person dressed in a sleek outfit and the other in a light dress. They are interacting in a well-lit space featuring large windows and an ocean view.

Failing that, better labels on the control when the door is inactive would provide better touch targets and easier use after a long day fixing Drones.

Otherwise, we see that the home serves Jack and Vika’s (and the Tet’s) needs well. Though, if the Tet really wanted to keep the team inside, it would have a way to remotely lock the doors. Considering how bad a fire hazard locked doors would be, I’m glad that the Tet overlooked that small feature.

Lessons:

  1. Don’t prevent evacuations in the event of an emergency
  2. Give your users a way to be alone when they want
  3. Every-day tasks should be easiest and most seamless

Robbie the Robot

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Dr. Morbius creates Robbie after having his intellectual capacity doubled by the Krell machines. The robot is a man-sized, highly capable domestic servant receiving orders aurally, and responding as needed with a synthesized voice of his own.

Robbie exits the cockpit of his vehicle.

Robbie invites the men inside.

Robbie first appears steering a special vehicle to pick up the officers. It is specially built for him, accommodating his inability to sit down. From this position, he can wirelessly maneuver the vehicle, and even turn his head around to address passengers.

Robbie fires Adams’’ sidearm.

Despite his having only two wide, flat fingers on each hand, he is able to grasp and manipulate objects as a human would. To demonstrate this, Morbius has him aim and fire Commander Adams’’ weapon at a nearby tree. How he pulled the trigger is something of an unanswered question since his hands are hidden from view as he fires, but he does so all the same. This makes him quite useful as an interface, since he is able to use any of the devices already in the environment. Additionally, should he become unavailable, humans can carry on in his absence.

Alta thanks Robbie for offering to make her a new dress.

Given that he must interact with humans, who have social needs, his stature helps ingratiate him. In one scene Alta wishes to express her gratitude for his promise of a new dress, and she gives him a hug. Though he does not hug back, she still smiles through and after the expression. Had he been less anthropometric, she would have had to express her thanks in some other way that was less pleasant to her.

Robbie warms the coffee for Alta and Farman.

In addition to being physically suited for human interaction, he is quite socially aware and able to anticipate basic human needs. In one scene, as Lt. Farman walks with Alta towards a cold pot of coffee, without having been asked, Robbie reaches down to press a button that warms the coffee by the time the two of them arrive. He also knows to leave immediately afterwards to give the two some privacy.

Despite these human-like qualities, some of his inhuman qualities make him useful, too. He is shown to be incredibly strong. He is tireless. He can synthesize any material he “tastes.”

With eyes behind his head, Robbie shoos a pesky monkey.

He even has “eyes in the back of his head,” or a 360-degree field of vision for surveillance of his surroundings. In one charming scene he combines this observation with small nonlethal lasers to shoo away a pesky monkey trying to steal fruit behind his back.

Morbius shows Robbie’’s “sub-electronic dilemma” when asked to harm a human.

Addressing safety concerns, Robbie is built to obey Asimov’’s first law of robotics. After having his creator instruct him to point a weapon at Adams, and “aim right between the eyes and fire,” Robbie’’s servos begin to click and whir noisily. His dome glows a pinkish-red as blue sparks leap across it. Morbius explains, ““He’’s helpless. Locked in a sub-electronic dilemma between my direct orders and his basic inhibitions against harming rational beings.”” When the command is canceled, the sparks stop immediately and the red fades over a few seconds.

This failsafe seems quite serious, as Dr. Morbius explains that if he were to allow the state to continue, that Robbie would “blow every circuit in his body.” Since the fault of such a state is with the one issuing the command and not Robbie, it seems a strange design. It would be like having your email server shut down because someone is trying to send an email infected with a virus. It would make much more sense for Robbie to simply disregard the instruction and politely explain why.