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
 |
Metal Prices High Enough For Robot Sacrifice
Attention, robots! Now's the time to cash in on your metal body parts.
In spite of some declines in metal prices in the past week, demand is expected to increase in April through June. According to Barclay's Capital:
Science fiction fans may recall that in A Head in the Polls, Bender the robot sells his body in a pawnshop, reveling in the high price for titanium, one of his major components.
"Currently copper looks the tightest market from a fundamental perspective. We see a very substantial market deficit emerging in the first half of 2008 and inventories returning to all-time lows and prices testing all-time highs."
(From Metals Price Rally to Continue)
(Bender sells his body for cash)
(A mouthful of recycled robot cash)
However, many people, including sf fans, don't know that facing reuse and recycling can be very depressing for robots; see the comments of the robot cab driver in Philip K. Dick's A Present for Pat.
People are serious about recycling robots, though; just take a look at this list of metals, as well as other substances, that should be reused:
- Cadmium - found in chip resistors, infrared detectors, semiconductors, and robotic batteries and cables.
- Lead - found in the glass panels of computer monitors, in lead soldering of printed circuit boards, and semi-conductors found in industrial robots.
- Mercury - found in cables connected to industrial robots, thermostats, position sensors, relays and switches on printed circuit boards.
- Hexavalent Chromium or Chromium VI- can be used to protect against corrosion of untreated and galvanized steel plates and can be found in robotic semi-conductors, and robotic welding smoke.
(From Industrial Robot Recycling)
I'm surprised that we haven't had more reports of human beings mining their own infrastructure for metal in the past few months. See Your Scrap Metal Future for more information on mining the skies, which is the phrase that Robert Heinlein used for this sort of recycling.
Perhaps we need to program robots to recycle themselves.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 3/25/2008)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Material ")
Harvard Metamaterials Change Structure Instantly
'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.' - Samuel R. Delany
Nano-Chainmail 2D Mechanically Interlocked Polymer
'Nemourlon armor of reasonable weight resists penetration by most fragments and any bullet that is not both reasonably heavy and fairly high-velocity.' - Jerry Pournelle, 1976.
Goldene - A Two-Dimensional Sheet Of Gold One Atom Thick
'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.' - Roger Zelazny, 1966.
FlexRAM Liquid Metal RAM And One Particular SF Movie Robot
'Its lines wavered, flowed, and then painfully reformed.' - Philip K. Dick, 1957.
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 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
Current News
Natural Gait With Prosthetic Connected To Nervous System
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain...'
Woman Marries Computer, Vonnegut's Dream Comes True
'Men are made of protoplasm... Lasts forever.'
Spidery 'Walk Me' Toyota Autonomous Wheel Chair Like Star Wars
Walk along with the emperor.
Dancing Robots Taught Dance Moves
'A clockwork figure would be the thing for you...'
Proof Of Robothood - Not A Person
'Who are you people? - Show 'em.'
Indonesian Clans Battle
'The observation vehicle was of that peculiar variety used in conveying a large number of people across rough terrain.'
The 'Last Mile' In China Crowded With Delivery Robots
Yes, it's a delivery robot. On wheels.
Tornyol Microdrone Kills Mosquitoes
'The real border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
PLATO Spacecraft, Hunter Of Habitable Planets, Now Ready
'I ... set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching for a habitable planet.'
Factory Humanoid Robots Built By Humanoid Robots
'...haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'
iPhone Air Fulfils Jobs' Promise From 2007 - A Giant Screen!
'... oblongs were all over the floor and surfaces.'
ChatGPT Now Participates in Group Chats
'...the city was their laboratory in human psychology.'
iPhone Pocket All Sold Out!
'A long, strong, slender net...'
Did The Yautja Have These First?
What a marvel of ingenuity the little device was!
Jetson ONE Air Races Begin, Can Air Polo Be Far Behind?
'If you're one of those rarities who haven't attended a rocket-polo "carnage", let me tell you it's a colorful affair.'
Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again?
'They filed clumsily into the battleroom, like children in a swimming pool for the first time, clinging to the handholds along the side.'
