The brain-computer interface chip,^[1] also referred to as the Black Box and formally known as the "automated man,"^[2] is a piece of technology developed by RobCo Industries and later traded to the Vault-Tec Corporation in exchange for access to the cold fusion diode.

While the trade of the diode was prevented by Cooper Howard,^[3] Vault-Tec would still acquire black box and develop it further. The use of the black box chips was stalled however both pre and post-War as the chips, when attempted to be used at full power, resulted in explosion of the head of those implanted. Vault-Tec would make headway in miniaturization and the capability to implant new ideas and wipe the personality of those implanted - going so far as to kidnap and utilize congresswoman Diane Welch's decapitated head as a mainframe to process a new personality into the implanted users.^[4]

The development of the black boxes would sit undisturbed for some time after the Great War and entirely under utilized except for one known use by Hank MacLean in 2283. However, in July of 2296, Hank MacLean would pickup the research and testing of the black boxes after acquiring research data from Vault 24. After countless attempts fine tuning the black boxes on mice and Human test subjects, MacLean would successfully calibrate the chips to allow the implanted to keep their faculties while erasing their previous personality and creating the perfect, obedient slave. He would then propagate the process of the chips to the Enclave.^[4]

Background

Created and developed prior to the Great War by RobCo Industries, the brain-computer interface chip was supposedly the result of Robert House experimenting with reversing his company's manufacturing methodology: instead of making a machine more lifelike, making a human more machine-like.^[2]

Sometime in the 2070s, House himself discreetly went to a Los Angeles bar during an ongoing anti-automation protest to find a human test subject. He incited a disgruntled construction worker, Bill, into following him into an alleyway, where House implanted him with one of the chips and instructed Bill to attack his friends. Once the mind-controlled man completed his task, House observed him to be resisting the chip's control and he tried to further push its limits; this resulted in Bill's head exploding and killing him, though House still considered it a success.^[5]

Whether before or after this event, House decided to make an offer to the Vault-Tec Corporation: in a meeting with their executive Barb Howard, he offered to license the chip's technology to them in exchange for receiving ownership of Vault-Tec's proprietary cold fusion diode. House sought cold fusion to power a machine that would create a roboticized copy of his personality, with the goal of watching over and protecting his beloved city of Las Vegas from the nuclear war he calculated was imminent.^[2][6]

Whether due to this deal, or due to RobCo itself having a say over some Vaults,^[2] the staff of Vault 24 were assigned to augment the capabilities of the chip, done by subjecting test subjects to communist propaganda to try and get them to act like genuine communist agents. At the same time, the Las Vegas management Vault performed their own independent research to miniaturize the chip while retaining its functionality.^[5]

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The Innovator

While following after the trail of her father, Lucy and the Ghoul enter Vault 24 and discover the experiments they were performing with the black box technology as well as that Hank took the research data that resulted from this. They also find the sunburned man, a live victim of the chip left by Hank as a living mouthpiece to deliver his warning to Lucy to stop chasing him and go home; when he finishes, Hank overloads the chip and explodes the man's head, but it does not deter Lucy.

Around the same time, Hank reaches the underground facility and discovers the remnants of the experiments, including the successful production of several smaller-sized models of chip. Through his contact over radio with an unidentified recipient, he states that he will continue working on the black box chip to enhance it with the Vault 24 data.

The Golden Rule

In a flashback, it is shown that, sometime after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam in 2283, Hank had acquired at least one black box chip that he used to mind-control an NCR caravaner. He had the man deliver a nuclear device into the heart of the NCR capital of Shady Sands, then detonated it remotely himself to cripple the post-War nation.

In the present of 2296, Hank goes through the underground facility's repository of cryogenically frozen mice during his experiments to improve the miniature black box's capability, but encounters several failures of the test subjects exploding without results. He later resorts to thawing out a member of the "Premium Elite Plus" repertoire of Vault-Tec customers, Stephen Winthrop to use as a live test subject but ends up killing him as well.

The Wrangler

After temporarily leaving the facility to kidnap the snake oil salesman as his next test subject, Hank subjects him to a new procedure where he wipes the salesman's memories to make the mind-control easier on the wearer, and achieves success. He later sends the salesmen as a representative to Lucy and the Ghoul to make a deal with the latter to take Lucy back to Vault 33 while Hank finishes his plans. However, when Lucy incapacitates the Ghoul, Hank goes there himself to bring her back to the facility.

The Other Player

When she later awakens in the Vault-Tec facility, Lucy discovers that, since finalizing his work on the chip, Hank had assembled a large "staff" of wastelanders from all over the region including members of the Great Khans and Caesar's Legion and put them to work creating more black box chips with the professed goal of subjecting the entire wasteland to mind control in order to end all conflict and bloodshed. Despite Lucy's attempts to stop his scheme and leave with him in handcuffs to face justice, she is forced to activate the mind-control on Ranger Biff and a Legion soldier to protect the former's life when the latter breaks free and attacks him, to Hank's delight.

The Strip

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Characteristics

Once a chip is attached to the back of a victim's head, the chip overrides their central nervous system and compels them to carry out any orders given by the master using voice commands and a special remote control. Under the influence of the chip, the victim loses all free will, going so far as to kill allies of the controlled. In early testing, the chip was shown to be flawed: victims could seemingly resist its control, or would end up "broken," acting mindlessly and even saying things on repeat. The control could then end up killing the victim, cause a cranial eruption if the force of control is pushed too far.

These control flaws were seemingly remedied by Hank MacLean in the Vault-Tec X-Branch after repeated testing on white mice, preserved pre-War American subjects, and captured wastelanders. The most successful iteration of the chip made it so that its victims lost all of their previous memories but retained all fine motor skills and language, and could be given complex instructions and carry them out willingly. They would even come to see their former enemies as friends.

Notes

• The principle of operation of these chips is similar to that of the Mesmetron from Fallout 3 — the victim also loses their free will and risks losing their head. The only difference is that in the case of the Mesmetron, the victim retains the ability to think and speak, albeit in a state of clouded consciousness, while the brain chip seemingly deprives the wearer of all free will.
  • Additionally, the Red Racer factory in the Capital Wasteland is the base of the Surgeon's operations, involving the control of super mutants and feral ghouls via head-implanted chips. The Surgeon documented their progress of building these chips, and had explosives implemented as a safeguard; in gameplay, a host's chip will self-destruct upon their death (if the killing blow did not already dismember the head). A remote broadcast was also designed to detonate all chips upon its activation.

References