Tinkering with machines has always been a passion for young Toris. At 8, he managed to build a robot from scraps he collected from his father's garage and the landfill. From then on his parents knew what he's capable of, and the things they should do to help build his potential. It was a blur of school and college, thick books, and the smell of oil for the past twelve years from then on.
Granted, the way he was living was exhausting to a fault. He even considered suicide at times when he felt the world was against him. It was then he decided to pick up his pen and paper and start scribbling something that would take his mind away from the reality he's living in.
And that's when Ivan shows up in the picture.
At first, he didn't know what kind of robot should Ivan be, though after much tinkering with his design, Toris decided Ivan would be a hug robot. He started melding iron to shape his exoskeleton filling it inside with various machinery that would aid in Ivan's movement. Though, the required machinery gotten a lot more as Ivan's initial design of being a hug robot had gotten more complex, so Toris made a new exoskeleton for him. This time, he's using artificial skin and hair to make Ivan more human-like.
It took Toris years to complete Ivan as he was short of money. Though he had fundings for his other ongoing projects, completing Ivan rarely took priority. But Toris was adamant to complete him, and so, eight years later, Ivan was able to talk for the first time. Seeing progress in Ivan made Toris ecstatic to a fault, almost costing him Ivan's programming due to a drunken stupor, but someday, he'll be able to see Ivan smile and hug him and tell him everything's going to be alright.