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"Building one space station for everyone was and is insane: we should have built a dozen."
- Larry Niven
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| Window-Cleaner Robots | ||
| Robots that perform the task of cleaning and polishing transparent surfaces. |
The cylindrical ship Rama had enormous lighting strips; how to keep them clean?
| There were the "window cleaners," with large padded feet, who were apparently polishing their way the whole length of Rama's six artificial suns. Their enormous shadows, cast right across the diameter of the world, sometimes caused temporary eclipses on the far side. |
| Technovelgy from Rendezvous With Rama,
by Arthur C. Clarke. Published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in 1972 Additional resources -
|
The Window Cleaner robots are really "biots", biological robots that have stored energy cells like electric eels.
Compare to Window Willie from Door Into Summer (1956) by Robert Heinlein.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Rendezvous With Rama
More Ideas
and Technology by Arthur C. Clarke
Tech news articles related to Rendezvous With Rama
Tech news articles related to works by Arthur C. Clarke
Window-Cleaner Robots-related
news articles:
- Winbot Scrubs Your Windows
- Ecovacs Winbot 7 Window-Cleaning Robot
- SINTEF Robot Cleans Solar Panels
- BladeBUG Robots Clean Massive Wind Turbine Blades
- Solar Powered Robot Cleans Up Solar Panels For Free
- Solar Panel Cleaning Robots
| Chaffeur Robot Musashi Will Drive Your Regular Car |
| Shanghai Guidelines For Humanoid Robots |
| Desktop TARS Robot From Interstellar |
| Robots Can Now Have Smiling Faces With Human Skin |
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'What would you do,' Eric asked the robot cabdriver, 'if your wife had turned to stone, your best friend were a toad, and you had lost your job?'
'those suits they wear -- call them 'stillsuits' -- that reclaim the body's own water...'
'Now, except for weight and heat, the same conditions prevail in this chamber as in space.'
'there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net...'
'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...'
'..the synthetic intellects at the Place of Knowledge had far outstripped the minds of men.'
'But after washing and drying clothes had to be smooth - free from fine lines and wrinkles ...'
