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"Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today -- but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all."
- Isaac Asimov
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| Robotic Trash Can | ||
| A sensor-equipped waste can capable of autonomous cleaning - and legal judgement. |
Carl Tritt is having a bad day. Sentenced to twenty years by a robot judge, he makes the mistake of spitting on the sidewalk.
| Forgetting where he was in his misery, he choked a bit. Then spat heavily.
Even as the saliva hit the spotless sidewalk, a waste can twenty feet away stirred into life. It rotated on hidden wheels and soundlessly rolled towards him. In shocked horror Carl pressed the back of his hand to his mouth. Too late to stop what was already done. A flexible arm licked out and quickly swabbed the sidewalk clean. Then the can squatted like a mechanical Buddha while a speaker rasped to life in its metal insides. A tinny mechanical voice addressed Carl. "Carl Tritt, you have violated Local Ordinance #bd-14-668 by expectorating on a public sidewalk. The sentence is two days. Your total sentence is now twenty years and two days." |
| Technovelgy from Robot Justice,
by Harry Harrison. Published by Fantastic Universe in 1959 Additional resources -
|
This reminds me of the Profanity Sensors (see a picture of the original movie prop) in the 1993 movie Demolition Man, starring Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes and Sandra Bullock. Whenever Sly swore (which he did often) a nearby sensor announced his crime and printed out a ticket.
Compare to the garbage device from The Age of The Pussyfoot (1966), by Frederik Pohl.
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Tech news articles related to Robot Justice
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- DustCart Robotic Trash Can From DustBot
- DustBot Video Shows Robotic Future Of Trash
- Hail SmartCan! Your Trash Bin Takes Itself Out
| LingYuan Vehicle Roof Drones Now Available, ala Blade Runner 2049 |
| Chameleon Personalized Privacy Protection Mask |
| Spherical Police Robot Rolls In China |
| Vietnam To Have Full Biometric Transparency |
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'The observation vehicle was of that peculiar variety used in conveying a large number of people across rough terrain.'
'The real border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
'I ... set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching for a habitable planet.'
'...haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'
'... oblongs were all over the floor and surfaces.'
