Aurora Unit

"Twenty years ago (prior to the events of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption), a team of Federation scientists announced the birth of an organic super computer. Its name was Aurora. Since that historic date, thousands of Auroras have been built and installed. Originally designed for scientific purposes, the Auroras are now used in government, business, and military roles as well. They are given male, female, or gender-neutral personas, based on the needs and desires of the staff at the facility they are to serve in. A vast network links all existing Auroras, allowing them to access a tremendous database without peer."

During the events of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, The Federation's Aurora Units had been corrupted by a Phazon-based virus, with the Federation believing Space Pirates are to blame. An Aurora Unit, Aurora Unit 313, had also been stolen by Space Pirates from the GF ship Valhalla,. Samus encounters three of these in the game. They are Aurora Unit 242, Aurora Unit 313, and Aurora Unit 217. Aurora Unit 486 is also mentioned in a scan as the designer of the terra-forming project on Norion, because before the planet was uninhabitable. Aurora Units always talk in collective first person, much like the Borg in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager.

The Aurora Units bear a striking resemblance to the Mother Brain, though Auroras have a more mechanical look compared to the mostly organic Mother Brain. The Mother Brain was built by the Chozo many years before the AUs' creation, though the manga indicates that the Federation had some part in this as well, as she was built to link the Federation and Chozo information databases, similar to the function of the Auroras. Additionally, a trailer for Corruption shows blueprints made by the Federation for a "future Aurora Unit complex" nearly identical to Tourian Beyond this, there is no concrete evidence as to how the supercomputers are related. However, in Metroid: Other M, which chronologically takes place after Corruption, it is revealed that the Galactic Federation created a replica of Tourian, codenamed Sector Zero, as well as an A.I (based on Mother Brain's) which originally possessed a form resembling a large featureless brain; this was known as MB. The Aurora Units may have been the predecessors of this technology (in other words, MB may be an advanced AU model).

The B.O.X. class security droid's brain resembles an Aurora Unit. Also, the exposed head of Quadraxis is similar to an Aurora Unit. This has led to speculation that they can be installed into weapons platforms.

Notable Units

 * Aurora Unit 217 (stationed on Elysia in SkyTown, originally on Demeter)
 * Aurora Unit 242 (stationed on G.F.S. Olympus)
 * Aurora Unit 313 (stationed on G.F.S. Valhalla, later sent to Phaaze by Dark Samus)
 * Aurora Unit 486 (unknown location, although connected to planet Norion)

Galactic Federation data file
"Aurora Unit - GF DF AU068"

"20 years ago, a team of Federation scientists announced the birth of an organic supercomputer. Its name was...Aurora. Since that historic date, thousands of Auroras have been built and installed. Originally designed for scientific purposes, the Auroras are now used in government, business, and military roles as well. They are given male, female, or gender neutral personas, based on the needs and desires of the staff in the facility they are to serve in. A vast network links all existing Auroras, allowing them access to a tremendous database without peer."

Trivia

 * Aurora Units and MB's first form share quite a few similarities, such as both being built by Federation scientists and resembling gigantic brains in containers, though MB is seemingly more organic and is programmed to think like Mother Brain. AUs, on the other hand, resemble the Pirate leader in physiology only. Though it cannot be said for certain that AUs are completely benevolent, due to numerous evidence of corruption in the Galactic Federation, as well as an unused logbook entry's mention of AU 313's strange, aggressive behavior long before it was ever corrupted by Phazon.
 * Oddly, although MB is more organic, she lacks Mother Brain's characteristic eye, which the Aurora Units do possess.
 * The Galactic Federation has been known to reverse-engineer many of the Chozo's advanced technology. The AUs may be reversed-engineered versions of Mother Brain.
 * In the third of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption 's preview trailers, blueprints for a future Aurora Complex heavily resembling Tourian are shown. It is possible that they played a role in the creation of Sector Zero, a replica of Tourian.
 * Strangely, the AU's refer to themselves as "we", "our", or "us", suggesting that the entire network shares a collective consciousness or speaks for the entire Federation.
 * However at one point, 242 says "I".
 * If one looks very closely at the console screens on the platforms in front of each Aurora Unit (as well as nearly every Galactic Federation-owned screen), one will find that some of the lines of text read "What Will You Do?" and "You Can't Do That On Television!", both of which were early '90s Nickelodeon shows.