A research probe was an energy matrix of Earth origin which was used sometime after the 21st century for time travel experiments by scientists. It was designed to explore and gather data.
The research probe would transmit information back to the people who had sent it and could be sent back in time.
One of these research probes landed in victorian Britain. It was found by Joseph Montague who used it as the brain of his Difference Golems. It gave the Difference Golems their own personality and made them able to move, talk and think like humans. In 2011 Adam's daughter brought the research probe back to the future. (AUDIO: Children of Steel)