TMS | MW [✔]

08. Wonwoo/Mingyu

Wonwoo

"You're really good at that." I smiled as I watched Jai cook. He was chopping fresh vegetables like some of the chefs I'd seen on television.

"I love cooking. With our busy work schedule, Jake and I are so busy that I don't get to do it very often."

"I don't know what Mingyu's work schedule is like." Or how it might change when he went to work for Jake. "My schedule isn't too crazy, but I do tend to get lost in my projects from time to time."

"Oh yeah?" Jai glanced up. "Working on anything special right now?"

"About ten years ago, an article came out about using plants as a bio-system for robotics. Although plant-inspired robotics is still a relatively new field, it got me interested in the emerging area in which robotic systems are designed to create their own body, adapt their morphology, and explore different environments."

Jai paused what he was doing and squinted at me. "Come again?"

"Plants represent an excellent source of inspiration for achieving new robotic abilities, and engineering tools can be used to reveal new biological data. I'm currently working on collecting that data and figuring out how it can be applied in the robotics field."

"Still a little confused, but that makes a bit more sense."

"Basically, I'm trying to figure out how plants can be used in robots."

Jai pointed his knife at me. "That I understand."

I chuckled. It wasn't always easy for me to explain my work in laymen terms for people that didn't work in my field to understand. And I was sure that even if he understood what I just said, Jai had no real interest in my work. Most non-nerds didn't.

And that was okay.

"You remember that tracking transmitter that Jake gave Borelli?"

Jai nodded.

"It's made of biodegradable material. Despite being a tracker with small computer parts, you can't find it with an X-ray, but it can still be tracked anywhere in the world via Jake's satellite. That biodegradable material was constructed based on the research I did on a plant from South America."

Jai's jaw dropped. "Really?"

I nodded. "That's the kind of applications I try to find, where the base of my research is. I have a few different projects I am working on right now, but the most exciting one is trying to use the same process Dr. Teller and I created to cover the trackers to cover robotics in humans. I hope to apply it to prosthetics."

"So they can go through a metal detector?"

"No, more like a better strength-proofing. Many people with prosthetics lead very active lives. If the skin on them was stronger, they would be more resistant to water and fire, and just general damage. And if we can figure out how to do it, we might even be able to custom dye them to match whoever is wearing the prosthetic."

"That's actually pretty cool."

I smirked. "I think so too."

I loved what I did because the possibilities were endless and Jake paid me a lot of money to dream big dreams, most of them outside reality. It wasn't a bad occupation for a nerd.

"You want to grab plates for all of us? They're over there." Jai pointed to a cupboard by the sink. "The food is just about done."

"Yeah, sure." I jumped up from the breakfast bar and hurried over to the cupboard. "How many do we need?"

"Five," Jai replied. "Stella is here, too."

I counted out five plates and then carried them over to the table. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to set them up at the breakfast nook or the formal dining room, but when Jai didn't protest, I figured I got it right.