Graves recognizes Soong's work
A Soong-type android in storage
An internal comparison of two Soong-type androids
A close look at an arm from a Soong-type android
A Soong-type android was a type of android first created by the cyberneticist Dr. Noonian Soong. Soong-type androids were equipped with sophisticated positronic brains. A total of six androids were known to have been created by Soong, although only the last four had fully functional positronic brains. Dr. Soong had a lot of trouble creating the positronic brain, and it led to him gaining the nickname "often wrong Soong" as a result. The first five Soong-type androids were built as images of Dr. Soong in his prime, albeit with pale skin and yellow eyes (his wife Juliana Soong objected to doing so for the fifth (Data), but Noonian did so anyway). The sixth was made in the image of Juliana. No other individual since was able to replicate Soong's accomplishment, although Data came close with the creation of his daughter Lal in 2366 using a new advance in cybernetics to transfer his program into the new positronic brain. Unfortunately it failed, and Lal was deactivated when her brain began to fail. (Star Trek Nemesis; TNG: "Datalore", "The Measure Of A Man", "The Offspring", "Inheritance")
Soong-type androids were incapable of alcohol intoxication, yet components in their processing systems were susceptible to disruption by polywater intoxication. (TNG: "The Outrageous Okona", "The Naked Now")
VISORs were able to visualize a halo of energy that most Soong-type androids emanate, which is undetectable to Human senses, however, the advanced body of Juliana Tainer apparently did not do this. (TNG: "Heart of Glory", "Inheritance")
Although Soong-type androids were only created centuries after, the earliest known existence of Soong-type androids was actually in the year 1893, due to the fact that the android Data was among several members of the USS Enterprise-D to be marooned in San Francisco. Data's head would subsequently stay buried in San Francisco for the duration of several centuries until its unearthing in the 24th century. (TNG: "Time's Arrow")
The beginning groundwork for the Soong-type android was first developed in 2154 by Noonian Soong's ancestor, Dr. Arik Soong, after giving up his work in genetics and realizing that Augmentation would not enhance Humanity. Knowing that he himself would never see the results of his studies, he expected that a descendant of his in two or three generations would be the one to succeed. (ENT: "The Augments")
Parts
Body frame
The body frame was composed of tripolymers which were a non-conductive material. (TNG: "Disaster")
Other components
- Axial servo
- Bioplast
- Chemical fuel reaction unit
- Cranial unit
- Deactivation switch
- Emotion chip
- Internal chronometer
- Memory cell
- Positronic brain
- Power cell
- Self-diagnostic
- Servo fluid system
Programs
- Biomechanical maintenance program
- Pattern recognition
- Syntactic algorithms
- Heuristic functions (TNG: "Clues")
- Memory loss fail-safe system (Star Trek: Insurrection)
- Modesty routine which governed typical uses of clothes (created for Data, possibly copied for Lal)
- Blinking routine based on fourier system to give the appearance of randomness. (TNG: "Inheritance")
- Autonomic logs (TNG: "Phantasms")
Androids
The Soong-type androids created, in chronological order:
Background information
Appearances
Data
- Star Trek: Enterprise
- "These Are the Voyages..." (voice only)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation
- All episodes except "Family"
- Star Trek films
- PIC: "Remembrance" (dreams only)
Lore
- TNG:
- "Datalore"
- "Brothers"
- "Descent"
- "Descent, Part II"
Lal
- TNG: "The Offspring"
Juliana Soong
- TNG: "Inheritance"
B-4
- Star Trek Nemesis
- PIC: "Remembrance" (remains only)
Apocrypha
- According to Star Trek Online, by the year 2409 the Federation, and by extension the Klingons, seems to have had success in creating more Soong-type androids, as Veteran subscribers can recruit one Android Bridge Officer for their crew.