Meanwhile, back at the bicycle factory

“W00t!” Phoebe exclaimed. Kitty was startled and amazed. Her sister had somehow managed to pronounce the hacker slang word while intimating excitement in such a way that Kitty could hear the zeros that replaced the phonetics of the double-o. “What?” Kitty inquired. Phoebe didn’t answer right away, so Kitty looked up and found Phoebe dancing in circles. Phoebe was clad in dirty coveralls and had her hair pulled back in a ponytail. The sight of a dancing Phoebe was not unusual. Kitty realized there was a line of 10 robotic arms bolted to the floor. The arms were mimicking Phoebe’s dance moves to the best of their limited ability.  

The unchoreographed ballet of arms was unimpressive by the standards of the Vaganova academy. However, within the context of a hand-built robotic factory created by two fourth-year college students in an abandoned warehouse, it was an astonishing achievement. “...