Chinese startup builds walking, talking robot
with the same name (more or less)
as the robot in my new novel...

Blazing Reader,

Pudo Robotics, a new Chinese start-up has released what Fox News is calling the "the next generation of humanoid robots."

Its name is D9.

I know what you're thinking, I'm a psychic.

After all, in my new novel, All the Humans Are Sleeping, the humanoid robot named Domestico (which has won the hearts of so many readers) is called D293.

Was I predicting the future? Is Domestico the 293rd future version of Pudo Robitics' D series?

Let's take a quick look at seven uncanny similarities:

1) D9 is 5.57 feet tall, Domestico is 6 feet tall. (He's also far more handsome with his curvy, purple silicone skin and smiling face.)

2) D9 can carry 20 kilograms, while my Domesticobot D293 model claims in Chapter 6.02 to be "strong enough to carry a 200-kilogram load..."

3) D9 can walk — like an old man with his knees always bent awkwardly — at about 4.5 miles per hour. In contrast, Domestico (D293) does an awful lot of running in my novel, going so fast at times that all the humans are seeing is "a flash of purple."

4) D9, according to Fox News, can "navigate stairs, slopes and even maintain balance when knocked off-kilter." Well... my Domestico (D293) has a scene on the peak of Mount Jiehkkevárri where he is "leaping and running and skidding down the steep decline of the summit’s glacier." Granted, yes, it did destroy his hand and rupture a few hydraulic valves in his ankles.

5) D9 is praised for "performing ground cleaning tasks... carrying boxes in warehouses and stocking shelves in stores." Big deal! The prologue to All the Humans Are Sleeping states that "Domestico’s official job description included such menial tasks as cooking Brent’s meals, washing the dishes, keeping the motorhome clean, doing the laundry and emptying the septic tank."

6) D9 is capable of "human-level multimodal natural interactions" — whatever that means. Domestico (D293), on the other hand, can compose poetry. And as my robot boasts in Chapter 9.03, "And I don’t mean just your regular cut and paste, spin the wheel on the donkey type of poetry that AI vomits out like a teenage girl who has had too much champagne.”

7) Lastly, D9 is speculated to cost somewhere in the $20,000 to $30,000 range, while Domestico (D293) sold for $250,000. However, my novel is set in 2041 — inflation could easily play a big role in the price difference.

You can see a short video of Pudo Robotics' D9 on FOX News. What is immediately suspicious about the demonstration is that it is all computer-generated. It looks about as fictional as my novel.

So, after you watch their animation of clunky D9 hobbling around be sure to crack open (if you haven't already) your copy of All the Humans Are Sleeping and read about my vastly superior — from a technological, philosophical and entertainment perspective — D293 model in my story about a farmer, a robot and the end of the world.

Don't own a copy yet? Well, you better hurry up and buy one before China releases their D293 model for real. You can purchase All the Humans Are Sleeping in paperback, ebook and audiobook formats at: AlltheHumansAreSleeping.com

—John C.A. Manley

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona, All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of philosophical fiction that are "so completely engaging that you find yourself alternately laughing, gasping, hanging on for dear life." Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber.