The Institute

The Institute is a mysterious organization in the Commonwealth. It is known to possess advanced technology, including the ability to produce androids of high enough quality to pass as humans.

Background
The Institute is likely the descendant of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located within the Commonwealth, the name now given in the post-atomic world to what was once the American state of Massachusetts. Little is known about the Institute other than that the scientists working in the sealed environment of the Institute possess highly advanced technology and technological skills. The Institute has created true artificial intelligence (AI) and is capable of creating convincing androids.

In fact, it seems that aside from a handful of groups on the East Coast, it is the only organization in the post-apocalyptic American wastelands that continues to pursue true scientific study and novel technological development, like the Shi or the New California Republic, though it is probably most similiar to the Boulder Dome.

Interactions with the player character
Another organization active in the Commonwealth, the Railroad, functions in direct opposition to the Institute, as their goal is to free the Institute's sentient androids from their creators.

Contrary to fierce arguments from The Railroad, there is not much evidence provided to demonstrate that the scientists of the Institute are evil; in The Replicated Man, Dr. Zimmer simply wants to safely recover his creation, and when aided in this, he lectures the android on the advantages of staying in the Commonwealth, and leads him unharmed (or simply reset) out of Rivet City.

Broken Steel
In Fallout 3 ' s Broken Steel add-on it is mentioned that Dr. Madison Li supposedly went north to join the Institute after the events of Take it Back!. Whether this was truly her intention and whether she actually made it there is unknown.

Appearances
The Institute only appears in Fallout 3.