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"As the rate of technological development speeds up, the gap between science fiction and what we’re living now is getting narrower all the time."
- Richard Morgan
 |
| Self-Charging Robot | ||
| A robot that is able to autonomously find an electrical outlet and plug itself in to recharge. |
| Amanda glared at the little object on wheels - it was about the size of a rollerskate and it seemed to be considering what to do next. It turned its photoelectric scanners this way and that, waving its jointed grappling arms about. Then it appeared to make up its mind, and trundled over to a wall socket in the baseboard, plugged itself in and proceeded to recharge itself. |
| Technovelgy from Callahan and the Wheelies,
by Stephen Barr. Published by Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1960 Additional resources -
|
The Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner can now perform this feat, just fifty short years later.
Also, compare to the charging arm robot from Masters of Chance (1941) by William Morrison and to the Autonomously Recharging UAV from Roger Zelazny's 1980 novel Changeling.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Callahan and the Wheelies
More Ideas
and Technology by Stephen Barr
Tech news articles related to Callahan and the Wheelies
Tech news articles related to works by Stephen Barr
Self-Charging Robot-related
news articles:
- Human Teaches Robot Ping Pong, Then Challenges It
- Marvin Intel's Self-Charging Robot
- 'Wheelie' Robotic Server
- Self-Charging Nao Robot Video
- Linux Robot Masters Automatic Charging
- Tesla Robotaxis Will Automatically Recharge Themselves
- Tesla Will Have Metal Gear Snake Autocoupler, Musk Confirms
| Artificial Skin For Robots Is Coming Right Along |
| Robot Guard Dog On Duty |
| Wearable Artificial Fabric Muscles |
| Dancing Robots Taught Dance Moves |
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'Buy a Little Dingbat... electropen, wrist watch, pocketphone, pocket radio, billfold ... all in one.'
'... an elastic, tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
'It is remarkable that the long leverages of their machines are in most cases actuated by a sort of sham musculature...'
'Briquet’s head seemed to think that to find and attach a new body to her head was as easy as to fit and sew a new dress.'
'...copy was turned out in a charming and entirely feminine handwriting.'
'It was almost unheard of for slunch to spread that fast...'
'He then started hand movements of definite pattern...'
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain...'
