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"This is a predictive tool I've used: There are goals we've sought for ten thousand years, and we'll go on seeking them. Instant transport and travel, immortality (or at least longevity and miracle cures.), instant learning …"
- Larry Niven
 |
| Robot Snake Spy | ||
| A small robot in the shape of a snake, used for field work by spies. |
How to retrieve a small amount of material from a person held captive in a small cottage?
| The coil on the table appeared to be a snake - tan and brown with black specks and a spade-shaped head. It did not look alive and it did not look dead.
...He reached down and partially uncoiled the snake, then squeezed its middle. A small hatch popped open, giving a glimpse of gleaming steel ribs and wires. He placed the tube inside the snake, then closed the hatch. "The snake has hi-res terrain mapping tied in with augmented GPS, and in this model, face and voice recognition... Within sight of a targeted individual - I mean, the intended individual - it will make an audible announcement and open its hatch." |
| Technovelgy from Mariposa,
by Greg Bear. Published by Vanguard Press in 2009 Additional resources -
|
Interesting science-fictional predecessors to this idea include the mining worm robot from Love Among the Robots (1946) by Emmett McDowell, the robot snake from Bait for the Tiger (1952) by Lee Chaytor, the robot earthworm from War with the Robots (1962) by Harry Harrison, the mechanical cobra from Lord of Light (1967) by Roger Zelazny and the digger worm from With Friends Like These (1985) by Connie Willis.
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and Technology from Mariposa
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and Technology by Greg Bear
Tech news articles related to Mariposa
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Robot Snake Spy-related
news articles:
- Snakebot Conquers Obstacle Course
- Terrifying Robot Snake's Flying, Coiling Attack
- Robot Snakes Now With Partitioned Gait
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| Who Needs Dogs? Trained Bees Detect Explosives |
| Government In-Home Surveillance - Yes! Say Third Of Under-30 Adults |
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'Tell me your torments,' the Padre said, in an elderly voice marked with compassion.
'...a slender-legged tripod surmounted by a spherical body no larger than a football.'
'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'
'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.'
