Going along Smokron's train of thought, I think that maybe the "brain" of the automaton is patterned off of his father. So, in other for the mind upload to work, perhaps someone with a similar personality/thought pattern was required to pilot it.
Well, he's a novelist. Maybe he can write a story continuing the legend into something where they can stay in the human world. The novel would probably sell well in that town and maybe enough people will believe it so that Rin can stay.