NOVA Laboratory robotics experts Newton Crosby and Ben Jabituya have developed a series of robotic soldiers called S.A.I.N.T. (Strategic Artificially Intelligent Nuclear Transport) for the U.S. military to use in Cold War operations, though they would rather seek peaceful applications of the robots. After a live demonstration for the military, one of the units, S.A.I.N.T. Number 5, is struck by lightning arcing through the lab's power grid. This scrambles the robot's programming and gives him rudimentary sentience, after which he escapes from the NOVA facility.
