BusinessTN

Philip K. Dick is missing.

Not the American sci-fi writer whose work spawned hit films like Blade Runner and Total Recall—he died more than 20 years ago—but a state-of-the-art robot named after the author, built by robotics teams in Tennessee and Texas.

The quirky android, which made a major splash at Wired magazine’s NextFest in Chicago in June, was lost in early January en route to California via commercial airline. “We’re pressing hard to find Phil,” says Steve Prilliman of Dallas-based Hanson Robotics, which created the android with the FedEx Institute of Technology at the University of Memphis, the Automation and Robotics Research Institute at U.T.-Arlington and Phil’s pal Paul Williams.

Robotics wizard and lead designer David Hanson built the robot as a memorial to the man whose 1968 book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? inspired the 1982 classic Blade Runner, in which Harrison Ford plays a cop whose job is to track down and terminate escaped androids known as “replicants.”

The irony of the situation—trying to find a replica of the man who wrote about hunting down androids—is not lost on Phil’s creators. But they still want him back. According to Eric Mathews, director of FedEx Institute’s corporate research and development, Phil’s materials and software cost about $40,000. “Then there is the human capital component, which is very high,” Mathews says. “My estimate would be $100,000 if you wanted to pay a team to build a custom robot like we did.”

Along with its eerie likeness to the author, Phil features award-winning artificial intelligence that mimics Dick’s mannerisms and a skin-like material called “frubber” for realistic expressions.

Top-of-the-line voice software loaded with data from Dick’s body of writing allows the robot to carry on natural-sounding conversations.

Biometric-identification software and advanced machine vision allows the robot to recognize people—even in a crowd—read their expressions and body language and talk to them much like a normal, albeit slightly senile author who likes to quote his own books when he gets confused.

Hanson’s team, which had control of the robot, balked at giving too many details, saying news could hamper the ongoing investigation. Company officials fear ransom demands might be made or Phil might turn up on Internet auction house eBay. Spokeswoman Elaine Hanson says the company may build a new android if the original Phil does not turn up.

Mathews adds that once the industrial processes used to manufacture the robot are standardized, the cost could drop quite fast. “They would be the next generation mannequin, social and teaching companion for kids to learn from, or a social companion in the hospital that also does medical monitoring,” Mathews says.

In the near future, found or no, Phil may have plenty of company.