The TN-1 is a six-legged walking platform with a central compartment designed to contain a single human being. The compartment is a reinforced capsule with restraint systems, life support, and sedation capability. The TN-1 identifies its designated target through biometric confirmation, incapacitates them using a short-range taser or chemical spray, loads them into the compartment using articulated manipulator arms, seals the capsule, and walks to a designated delivery point. It is an autonomous kidnapping machine.

TESSERA describes the TN-1 as an 'automated high-risk detainee transport system' designed for situations where human security personnel face unacceptable risk — transporting augmented prisoners, moving infectious disease patients, or extracting VIPs from hostile environments. All of these are legitimate applications. They account for a fraction of TN-1 deployments.

The reality is that the TN-1 is used for extrajudicial detention. Corporate security designates a target, the Cradle walks to them, takes them, and delivers them to wherever the corporation wants them. The target disappears off the street, enclosed in a walking box that nobody can see inside. No witnesses see a face. No recordings show a human being taken. The TN-1 walks through crowds with its cargo and nobody knows if the box is empty or if someone is inside it, sedated and restrained, being carried to a place they will never be seen again.