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"The thing that I'm most interested in at the moment is the so-called Infinite Energy solution - the possibility of finding new ways of tapping into virtually limitless sources of energy."
- Arthur C. Clarke
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| Golden Shuttles (Mechanical Mice) | ||
| Very small robots with an appetite for watch parts. |
In this excellent short story, Dan Burman is a famed inventor; however, he had actually invented only one machine - a psychophone that allows him to visit a kind of future. He brings back the blueprints for an unusual invention, one whose function is not immediately obvious.
Once constructed, one of the machine's first actions is to use hidden mechanical arms to reach out and steal a fine clock and a pocket watch. Over time, the Robot Mother steals dozens of watches from local jewelry stores. The thefts are accomplished by tiny robots no larger than mice.
| ... there came a very tiny, very subtle and extremely high-pitched whine. Something small, metallic, glittering had shot through one of the rat holes, fled across the floor toward the churning monstrosity. A trapdoor opened and swallowed it with such swiftness that it had disappeared before I realized what I'd seen. The thing had been a cylindrical, polished object resembling the shuttle of a sewing machine, but about four times the size. And it had been dragging something also small and metallic.
|
| From The Mechanical Mice,
by Maurice A. Hugi. Published by Astounding Stories in 1941 Additional resources -
|
The shuttle of a sewing machine is the special part that makes chain stitches possible; old-fashioned ones were roughly bullet-shaped, about one-half inch in diameter and an inch and a half long.
The tiny robots stole watch parts for its controller, the Robot Mother. These tiny gears and screws provided the Robot Mother with the materials with which to create more golden shuttles, as well as other tiny bots.
The author provides the following additional details about these tiny robotic wonders:
Be sure to take a look at the entry for Robot Mother, a very early reference to a self-reproducing robot that precedes scientific papers on the subject by at least seven years. You might also be interested in some of the children (and grandchildren) of this idea: Ray Bradbury's robot mice from The Martian Chronicles (1950) and dustmice, tiny robot detectives from Greg Bear's Queen of Angels (1990).
... the nose cap of the [golden shuttle] had opened fanwise, like an iris diaphragm, and a pair of jointed metal arms were folded inside, hugging a medium-sized diamond.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Mechanical Mice
More Ideas
and Technology by Maurice A. Hugi
Tech news articles related to The Mechanical Mice
Tech news articles related to works by Maurice A. Hugi
Golden Shuttles (Mechanical Mice)-related
news articles:
- Eco-Be! Mini Robot From Citizen
- Micro-Mouse Robots With Grippers Tournament
- XT-1 Micro Mouse With Blazing Speed
- EggTorte Mini Micromouse
- MicroTug Is A Micro Robot Beast
| Solar Powered Robot Cleans Up Solar Panels For Free |
| Spot Arm From Boston Dynamics Picks Up Like Heinlein's Hired Girl Robot |
| TIGER Ultimate Mobility Vehicle From Hyundai |
| Sophia Robots By The Thousands |
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'... with large padded feet, who were apparently polishing their way the whole length of Rama's six artificial suns.'
'Anything larger than a BB shot it picked up and placed in a tray on its upper surface...'
'the human seats took up two-thirds of the room in each'
'the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits...'
'Over her lacerated right shoulder he sprayed art-derm...'
Now, that was a Pontiac Trans Am with some real style.
'There is a built-in microphone that hears everything you say, and an electric brain that selects a suitable answer.'
