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"We are all repositories for genetically-encoded information that we're all spreading back and forth amongst each other, all the time. We're just lousy with information."
- Neal Stephenson
 |
| Brillo | ||
| A police robot. |
| It was August, that special heat
of August when the temperature
keeps going till it reaches the secret
kill-crazy mugginess at which point
eyeballs roll up white in florid faces
and gravity knives appear as if by
magic, it was that time of August,
when Brillo arrived in the precinct. Buzzing softly-the sort of sound an electric watch makes-he stood inert in the center of the precinct station's bullpen, his bright blue-anodized metal a gleaming contrast to the paintless worn floorboards. He stood in the middle of momentary activity, and no one who passed him seemed to be able to pay attention to anything but him...
 (Brillo from 'Brillo' by Ben Bova and Harlan Ellison) ...All eyes kept returning to the robot: a squat cylinder resting on tiny trunnions. Brillo's optical sensors, up in his dome-shaped head, bulged like the eyes of an acromegalic insect. The eyes caught the glint of the overhead neons... "Why do you call it Brillo?" "It's... a nickname. Somebody at UE thought it up. Thought it was funny." The whiz kid looked blank. "What's funny about Brillo?" "Metal fuzz," the police chief rasped. Light dawned on the whiz kid's face, and he began to chuckle... |
| Technovelgy from Brillo,
by Ben Bova (w/H. Ellison). Published by Analog in 1970 Additional resources -
|
The role of police robots?
Compare to R. Daneel Olivaw from Caves of Steel (1953) by Isaac Asimov, the undercover detective robot from The Velvet Glove (1956) by Harry Harrison, the precogs from The Minority Report (1956) by Philip K. Dick, the Pry-Vie robotic detective from Clans of the Alphane Moon (1964) by Philip K. Dick and Sven, the artificially intelligent detective from The Turing Option (1992) by Harry Harrison.
Police robots are
intended to augment the existing
force." Even more firmly he said,
"Not replace it. We're trying to
help the policeman, not get rid of
him."
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| Robots For Hire En Masse |
| Robot Clerks Become A Reality In China |
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| Humanoid Robots Tickle The Ivories |
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