U-87 Cyber Combat Unit

The U-87 chassis in development at Graystone Industries.

The U-87 Cyber Combat Unit was the progenitor of the Cylon race, created some 58 years before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies by Daniel Graystone.

Creation

The U-87 battle robot was created by Daniel Graystone and his team of scientists at Graystone Industries in Caprica City in the period immediately preceding the First Cylon War. Commissioned by the government of Caprica, the U-87 was intended to serve as a battlefield soldier, capable of shooting and fighting. A departure from the simple servant robots in vogue on Caprica the time, the U-87 was designed to be a semi-sentient humanoid form (CAP: "Pilot," "Unvanquished").

Inspiration

Whether deliberately or intentionally, Daniel Graystone's design for the U-87 chassis bore a striking resemblance to drawings his daughter, Zoe Graystone had done as a child. The design featured distinctively jointed legs, an artificial brain contained within the chest rather than the head, and a single, red-glowing eye (CAP: "Things We Lock Away).

Research & Development

The U-87 under construction at Graystone labs.

Following the fabrication of the prototype chassis and acquisition of the military contract from the Caprican Ministry of Defense, the U-87 project stalled, taking five years longer than expected and going half a billion cubits over budget. While the creation of the robot chassis itself was a simple task, the creation of a functioning artificial intelligence to drive that body was another matter (CAP: "Pilot").

Testing of the U-87 included at least 42 evaluation protocols in which the robot was placed in a simulated battlefield environment inside the Graystone labs. Tested on its ability to independently identify and acquire targets, and resolve and execute conflict, the Cyber Combat Unit consistently failed to live up to expectations (CAP: "Pilot").

With the media playing up the delays and cost overruns, the Caprican Prime Minister began to apply pressure to Graystone Industries while considering taking the project to an off-world contractor (CAP: "Pilot").

The MCP

A diagram of the MCP within the U-87.

A major breakthrough occurred when Graystone Industries' competitor, Tomas Vergis, founder and CEO of the Vergis Corporation of Tauron, cracked the artificial intelligence problem with the development of the meta-cognitive processor, or MCP chip. While the Vergis Corporation was thought to have been years behind Graystone Industries in the field of robotics, the creation of the MCP brought them into play for the Cyber Combat Unit contract (CAP: "Pilot").

As Daniel Graystone was confronted with this professional challenge, he also suffered a personal tragedy when Zoe Graystone was killed in the bombing of MagLev Train 23 in Caprica City. Shocked to discover that Zoe had created an identical copy of herself within the Virtual World, Daniel soon came to realize that he could theoretically bring his daughter back to life by implanting the avatar in a robotic body. Daniel, though, needed the MCP to make the resurrection possible (CAP: "Pilot").

Enlisting Joseph Adama - a Caprican lawyer with ties to the Ha'la'tha crime syndicate - Daniel arranged to steal the MCP from Vergis Corporation labs on Tauron. Unbeknown to Daniel, the theft resulted in the brutal killing of two men, a loss Tomas Vergis himself would soon seek retribution for (CAP: "Know Thy Enemy").

Cybernetic Life Form Node

The Cyber Combat Unit in evaluation protocol number 42.

Upon delivery of the MCP chip, Daniel worked tirelessly to bring his daughter's avatar from the virtual world and into the physical one. Downloading the program into the MCP, Daniel then implanted the chip into the U-87 chassis. At first appearing to be a successful integration, the U-87 took a step towards Daniel, speaking a single word: Daddy. The datastream within the chip, however, became unstable and resulted in a catastrophic loss of data and the apparent deletion of the Zoe avatar (CAP: "Pilot").

Grief stricken, Daniel took little comfort when the U-87 then began to operate efficiently, performing to expectations during a demonstration for Caprican Minister of Defense, Joan Leyte (CAP: "Pilot").

With the Cyber Combat Contract securely in the possession of Graystone Industries, Daniel Graystone dubbed the working U-87 a "Cybernetic Life Form Node" or "Cylon" for short (CAP: "Pilot").

Shape of Things to Come

Now fully operational and ready for mass production, the U-87 began testing in the sentient levels and performed well in Defense Department demos. Unfortunately, only the one prototype unit showed these kinds of aptitudes, with other U-87 chassis and MCP copies performing far below expectations. Baffled by the inexplicable bond between the U-87 and the original MCP chip, Graystone scientists were unaware that the Zoe avatar was, in fact, still intact within the U-87 exoskeleton (CAP: "Pilot," "Rebirth," "Unvanquished").

"Zoe-R"

Main article: Zoe-R

Zoe awakens inside the robot body.

As the first operational Cylon, the Zoe Graystone avatar imbued her robot body with a unique personality - that of a rebellious, if brilliant teenage girl, as well as a monotheist disgusted with the corruption of Colonial society. Reading her father's attempt at placing her avatar inside the robot as a cynical attempt at perfecting the U-87 technology and increasing his profit margin, Zoe refused to reveal herself to Daniel Graystone. Struggling with life as a prototypical robot warrior, Zoe enlisted help from her best friend Lacy Rand in a bid to free herself from captivity within Graystone labs. Zoe hoped to escape to the planet Gemenon where she would be united with other members of the Soldiers of the One monotheist group (CAP: "Rebirth," "Reins of a Waterfall," "The Imperfections of Memory," "Ghosts in the Machine").

A New Race

Still struggling to solve the technical issues plaguing the line of U-87s, Graystone Industries most profitable product - the holoband - came under scrutiny when Zoe Graystone's involvement with the STO became public knowledge. With many citizens of Caprica blaming the holoband for society's ills, Graystone Industries began hemorrhaging cubits. Declaring holobands a thing of the past, Daniel Graystone - in a desperate bid to retain control of the company - presented the U-87 to the board of directors as the future of Graystone Industries:

"A new race that will walk alongside us."

"This is our future. ...Beyond artificial intelligence, this is artificial sentience. ...It's more than a machine, this Cylon will become a tireless worker, it won't need to be paid, it won't retire or get sick, it won't have rights or objections or complaints, it will do anything and everything we ask of it without question. ...The desire to anthropomorphize, the need to connect is powerful, and that is why this thing is going to sell. We make them, we own them, they're real. And the worlds just changed."

With that, Graystone once again had full support of the board and resumed work on the U-87 (CAP: "There Is Another Sky").

Still, despite the prospect of Cylons as a slave race, the Caprican Government pressed for its battle robots. Detecting the standstill in development of the line, the Ministry of Defense moved up its timeline for the delivery of 100,000 robots, essentially creating a deadline Graystone Industries simply could not meet and freeing the contract to change hands to the Vergis Corporation (CAP: "End of Line").

Desperate to deliver on time, Daniel Graystone pushed his scientists to deal with the problem aggressively. Rather than cataloging and preserving the anomalies within the prototype MCP that made the original U-87 so successful, Graystone pushed his team to burn them from the chip like a "cancer" (CAP: "End of Line").

The Escape

The U-87 escapes in a Graystone Industries van.

Aware that the total erasure of the MCP chip would essentially end her existence within the U-87 body, Zoe Graystone revealed herself to lab assistant Philomon. Incensed, Philomon triggered a security alert forcing Zoe to attack and kill him. Escaping the lab and stealing a Graystone Industries van, Zoe led Caprican authorities on a high speed chase through the outskirts of Caprica City. Faced with opposition on either side, Zoe drove her van into a barricade, causing an explosion that badly damaged the U-87 body and deactivated the MCP chip (CAP: "End of Line").

Recovering the remains of the original U-87, Graystone scientists rebooted the system, finding the errors that had plagued the unit now gone. Copying the now clean version of the MCP, Graystone Industries - now under the ownership of Tomas Vergis - were able to implant working chips into their U-87 chassis and begin mass production on time. With the original U-87 beyond repair, Vergis ordered the unit be melted down. Acknowledging how much the prototype meant to the now ousted Daniel Graystone, lead scientist Cyrus Xander saved the unit from destruction, ordering its boxing and later shipping it to Daniel's home lab (CAP: "Unvanquished," "Retribution").

Mass Production

At a press conference some time later, Graystone Industries CEO Tomas Vergis annoucned the commencement of production on Caprica's robot soldiers:

"Production proceeds with Graystone Industries turning out a thousand robot chassis per month, and I am pleased to announce that Graystone Industries will deliver the first installment of battle units to the Caprican Government on time and - thank the Gods - on budget" (CAP: "Unvanquished").

Following Vergis' ouster and eventual death, Daniel Graystone - having regained control of the company through a dubious alliance with the Ha'la'tha - continued the company's production of U-87s (CAP: "Things We Lock Away").

Practical Application

With Caprica arming itself with a legion of U-87 soldiers and political tensions escalating throughout the Twelve Worlds, different factions from the various colonies began vying for the technology (CAP: "False Labor", "Blowback", "The Heavens Will Rise").

Tauron

The U-87 gunning down Tauron mobsters.

As a new Tauron pursing began to take hold, Ha'la'tha enforcer Samuel Adama sought to turn the tide by aiding rebel forces and running guns to Tauron from Caprica. Coming into conflict with members of another Tauron organized crime group who claimed jurisdiction over the gun-running trade, Adama sent an armed U-87 into the Skybar in Caprica City. There, the U-87 opened fire on Adama's rivals, killing everybody inside and proving its worth as a killing machine. Adama realized the power of the robot soldiers and attempted to persuade Ha'la'tha leader, the Guatrau to ship U-87's to Tauron - telling him that just one robot could turn the tide of the rebellion (CAP: "False Labor)".

Spoiler follows, highlight to read.

The Guatrau, however, rejected Adama's proposal, having secured a deal with the Soldiers of the One for a shipment of U-87 robots. Incensed by the potential use of robot soldiers by the terrorist organization, Daniel Graystone attempted to convince the Guatrau to reconsider, telling him that he could put their resurrection program venture in jeopardy. Graystone also feared the ramifications of selling the robots to Caprica's enemies on Gememon, an act of treason punishable by death. Equally incensed by the Guatrau's decision, Sam Adama convinced his brother, Joseph Adama, to betray the Ha'la'tha and arrange to have the Cyber Combat Units sent to Tauron (CAP: "Blowback", "The Dirteaters"). Neither Graystone nor the Adamas, however, were aware that a shipment of U-87s had already arrived on Gemenon were being put to use by the Soldiers of the One (CAP: "Blowback").

Gemenon

Dozens of U-87 soldiers power up on Gemenon.

Spoiler follows, highlight to read.

At the Soldiers of the One training camps on Gemenon, dozens of U-87 soldiers were stored in a disused temple when powered down, unable to respond to anyone except authorize controllers. When active, the U-87s were used as muscle by STO leaders, guarding the camps and keeping order within. During a minor argument, one U-87 was ordered to kill STO member Lexon. Seeing the robot about to fire its weapon, Lacy Rand interceded, ordering the robot to stop. Despite repeated commands by the STO member controlling it, the robot refused to fire and obeyed only Lacy Rand (CAP: "The Heavens Will Rise). Unable to explain when later questioned by Diego, Rand secretly suspected that the U-87 was the unit inhabited by Zoe Graystone avatar. Sneaking into the temple that housed the robots, Rand commanded the robots to power up and addressed the U-87 she had encountered earlier. Though the robot - distinguished by red paint on its chest - complied with her commands, it failed to identify itself as Zoe (CAP: "The Heavens Will Rise).

Physical Characteristics

The U-87 in Graystone's private lab.

The U-87 Cyber Combat Unit was unlike other robots of its time. While servant robots were distinguished by decidedly non-humanoid shapes, the Cylon prototype was constructed in an identifiably human form. Bearing a nearly identical construction to the later Centurions, the U-87 model was a stripped down version of the Cylon War-era soldiers. Distinguished by the distinctly Cylon trait of the single, roving scanner, the U-87's eye changed color from yellow to red and focused on single objects rather than continually moving from side to side (CAP: "Pilot, TRS: "Razor, "Daybreak, Part II").

In the U-87's destroyed state, Cyrus Xander remarked that the unit was "toast," prompting Tomas Vergis to remark that it was "more like a toaster" - the first, but not last, of similar comparisons (CAP: "Unvanquished").

The Cylon prototype weighed approximately one-quarter ton and was programmed with Caprican Military manuals (CAP: "Ghosts in the Machine").

Notes

The physical prop of the U-87...

...and its digital counterpart.

The U-87 was designed in the real world by Battlestar Galactica and Caprica illustrator Richard Livingston [1] and rendered as a computer-generated character by Pierre Drolet and Gary Hutzel's effects team. Effects supervisor Doug Drexler led a team to create a physical version of the U-87 for scenes in which it was not required to move or act:

"Gary enlisted the aid of awe-inspiring model maker, Lou Zutavern. Lou and his guys built the U-87 in an unbelievably short time frame. What’s really remarkable is that Lou and the crew built every part by hand with no computer prototyping of any kind. I might also add that Lou built the robot where no other shop could have pulled it off, meaning that they did it for a pittance. It’s a regular Hollywood battle cry in our arena… no time and no money. Funny how sometimes the best stuff grows from those limitations. Lou and his guys made it happen because they thought it was cool." [2]

According to materials provided to the 2010 Emmy Awards voters, the CG model of the U-87 featured cables that "bend and articulate along with the character's actions, as do the translucent hoses which visually pump the robot's coolants... The CG model is exquisitely detailed to the point of obsession. It weighs in at 259774 polygons." [3]

Despite the fact that it has not developed on screen, it can be safely assumed that the religion of the original Cylon Centurions as stated in "Escape Velocity" comes from Zoe Graystone's monotheistic beliefs.