"I have brought a delivery for you."
Looking out the window of my room, I saw the delivery man who usually delivers packages standing at the entrance with a particularly large cardboard box on a cart.
"Wow, here it comes, here it comes."
I've been waiting for a week since I applied for the clinical trial online, and finally the set of equipment required to participate in the clinical trial from my house must have arrived.
"Sakura, several packages have arrived for you."
I heard my mother calling from the entrance. But what is that big box?
Mai, who told me about this clinical trial, said she was also participating in the same clinical trial, but she never said she'd received such a big package before, so I wonder what's in it.
The package that arrived was one large cardboard box with a side length of about 1m and two boxes about the size of a box of Navel Oranges. The small box had a note saying, "Please open this one first," so I opened the small boxes first. Inside was a Sphygmomanometer, an Apple Watch, and three instruction manuals. There was also a folded piece of paper with the words, "Let's get started."
Dear Sakura Yaeno,
Thank you very much for participating in this clinical trial. This clinical trial is designed to reduce the number of hospital visits as much as possible and reduce the burden on the subjects, with a specially developed robot designed to support the clinical trial. In addition, after the robot is assembled, it will need to be initialized in order to link it to the subject's personal authentication, the included weight scale, Sphygmomanometer, Apple Watch, and the subject's smartphone. Please follow the instructions of manual to check the operation and set it up.
Magoneko Health Sciences Co., Ltd. Toll-free number ☎ 0120-XXX-XXX
Huh? What's this? Mai didn't say anything about the robot, and when I applied online, she asked me if I had a computer at home and if I had a smartphone to install the app on, but I didn't hear anything about a robot coming.
So, I sent Mai a LINE message.
"Mai, the robot has arrived"
"Oh, it arrived for Sakura, too"
"Mai, you knew about it, but you didn't tell me"
"Well, I thought Sakura would be surprised if it arrived suddenly"
So that means there's a robot in this big box. So let's open it?
Following the instructions, I removed the eight metal fittings on the bottom of the cardboard box and pulled it up, revealing the robot's main body. It looked a bit like that guy from Star Wars. I think it was called R2-D2. The instructions said that there were caterpillars underneath the main body, so lift up the main body, remove the caterpillars from the bottom, place it on a flat surface, and then fit the main body on top. But I can't lift something that heavy.
So I decided to stop working for the time being and ask my mom for help.
"Mom, help me out a bit."
"You've got something amazing, Sakura. Is this the clinical trial robot?"
"What? How do you know, mom?"
"What are you talking about? The nurse told us when we were explained the participation the other day. They said that we'll deliver the robot to your home in a while."
"I can't believe the nurse explained it. Even so, Mai is a bad person for knowing and keeping quiet."
Thanks to mom's hard work, I was able to place the robot on the caterpillar. On the robot's abdomen, there is a big flower mark and the number 6.
After assembling the robot, I put the batteries into the included weight scale and blood pressure monitor. The Apple Watch was about half charged, so it seems like it's ready to use for now. I'll also need to set up WiFi, but I have the name and password of my home access point written on the WiFi device, so I think I'm all set.
"Okay, now we're ready, let's switch it on, robot."
When I pressed the button on its back, the robot's eyes lit up and the flower mark on its belly started flashing.
"Nice to meet you. I'm a clinical trial assistant robot. I'll take care of you until the clinical trial is complete, so please take care of me."
Oh, the robot suddenly spoke.
"First of all, what's your name?"
"It's Sakura, Sakura Yaeno."
"Sakura Yaeno. Matching with registered name completed. What's your date of birth?"
"April 6, 2004."
"Matching with registered date of birth completed. Next, look at me."
"Ah, yes."
"Matching with face data completed. I have confirmed that you are the applicant."
It seemed like something big had started.
"Next, look at me again as I will register your iris."
"Gazing..."
"Your iris pattern has been registered. Next, touch the button on my back with your thumb."
"Oh, sure."
"Just like that, change the angle and touch it a few times."
I know this. It's the same as when I registered my fingerprint on an old smartphone and were able to unlock the screen or install apps.
"Next, say it like I do. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled petters."
"Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled petters."
"She sells sea shells by the seashore."
"She sells sea shells by the seashore."
"Voiceprint registration completed. Next, let's have you decide on my name."
Let you decide, that sounds a bit arrogant. Besides, if I'm told to choose a name at the beginning, I can't think of one right away.
"What's wrong? Decide on a name quickly."
There's nothing I can do now. I'll just give it a random name and change it later. But random names are hard to come up with. While I was thinking about this, I noticed a number 6 written on the robot's abdomen.
"Why 6? Oh well. Your name is Rock." (*The pronunciation of 6 in Japanese is Roku.)
"My name is Rock."
"Your name is Sakura."
"Rock, nice to meet you."
"Okay, Sakura. Please turn on the weight scale and sphygmomanometer."
When I turned on the scale and Sphygmomanometer, the flower mark on Rock's abdomen started flashing again, changing from red to yellow and finally to blue.
"Synchronization complete. Next, sync with Apple Watch."
The flower mark started flashing again, changing from red to yellow and then to blue, just like before.
"Synchronization complete. Just a bit more."
"Sakura, is the WiFi access point name AP-001YN correct?"
"Rock, you understand very well. That's correct."
"This was the access point with the strongest signal. Next, tell me the password."
"zzw122345"
"Internet connection complete... Authentication information upload complete... Firmware update complete...."
I thought he was chanting something like a spell for an eternity, and then
"All initial startup steps complete. Switching to operational mode."
"I'm ready now. I'll give you instructions every day, so make sure you follow them."
It seems the initial setup is complete. He is acting all high and mighty until the very end, but oh well.
And so my relationship with rock began.