Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"Science fiction and science have always danced around each other. Science fiction is the subconscious of science."
- Greg Bear
 |
| Floating Robot | ||
| A robot that floats in mid-air. |
| There was something before him in the darkness — something hanging in mid-air in that Stygian gloom! The hair prickled erect on his scalp and his spine crawled. For there, before his aching eyes, a glow came up; a brilliant crimson glow, shot with silver flashes of incandescence. And its light revealed the most fantastic being Marshall had ever seen in any nightmare.
 ('The Floating Robot' by David Wright O'Brien) It was a nameless thing of gleaming red metal, perhaps five feet in height. It had a formless head, with odd projections that might have been eyes, but there were no eyes in them. It had metallic arms, terminating in almost human hands. It had no legs, but a round bottom almost ludicrously like an untippable salt cellar, ringed by a band of what seemed to be radioactive gold. And it floated effortlessly perhaps a foot above the floor... "I am Yolan," repeated the monster, rather querulously. "What is this world? Why have I been trapped in this dark place? I am Yolan. I am Yolan." |
| Technovelgy from The Floating Robot,
by David Wright O'Brien. Published by Fantastic Adventures in 1941 Additional resources -
|
Fans of Star Trek: The Original Series might recognize this robot:
Here's the cover for Fantastic Adventures for January, 1941.
('The Floating Robot' by David Wright O'Brien)
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Floating Robot
More Ideas
and Technology by David Wright O'Brien
Tech news articles related to The Floating Robot
Tech news articles related to works by David Wright O'Brien
| RoboBallet The Dance Of Cooperative Robots |
| Does CloneRobotics Offer A True Android? |
| Robots Repair And Modify Themselves |
| Robot Janitors Get To Work |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'This was their world, their planet — this swift-traveling, yet seemingly moveless vessel.'
'Gaines and Harvey mounted tumblebugs, and kept abreast of the Cadet Captain...'
Accompanied by a small selection of similar ideas from science fiction.
'...war-balloons, or, as it would be more correct to call them, navigable aerostats.'
