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"It is change ... that is the dominant factor in society today... the world as it will be. This means that ... every man must take on a science fictional way of thinking.""
- Isaac Asimov
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| Drone Floater Camera | ||
| A one-foot square aerostat capable of hovering with a camera to transmit images back to a base station. |
A runaway robot is running amuck inside a house; a baby is inside the house. Jack Ramsay of the Runaway squad sends a floater camera, a remote-controlled hovering video platform, into the house.
 (Top view of floater camera) "There is a baby alive inside the house. Police are preparing a floater camera which will enter the house and attempt to locate the runaway 912..."
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| Technovelgy from Runaway,
by Michael Crichton. Published by Tri-Star Pictures in 1985 Additional resources -
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Police can view the surveillance video on this cool indash video screen. The idea of having a video screen built into the door of a car is also an interesting idea.
(Indash video control screen)
The movement of the floater camera appears to be entirely remote-controlled.
Compare to the raytron apparatus from Beyond the Stars (1928) by Ray Cummings, the scarab robot flying insect from The Scarab (1936) by Raymond Z. Gallun, the artificial eye drone from Glimpse (1938) by Manly Wade Wellman, eyes from This Moment of the Storm (1966) by Roger Zelazny, the Ultraminiature Spy-Circuit from The Unknown (1972) by Christopher Anvil, copseyes from Cloak of Anarchy (1972) by Larry Niven, the sky ball from A Day For Damnation (1985) by David Gerrold, the aerostat monitor from The Diamond Age (1995) by Neal Stephenson, the loiter drone from The Algebraist (2004) by Iain Banks and the bee cam from City of Pearl (2004) by Karen Traviss.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Runaway
More Ideas
and Technology by Michael Crichton
Tech news articles related to Runaway
Tech news articles related to works by Michael Crichton
Drone Floater Camera-related
news articles:
- Micro Air Vehicle In Use In Iraq
- Robotic Flying Saucer Drones
- Honeywell Micro Air Vehicle Tested By Miami Police
- Aeryon Scout UAV Like In Crichton's Runaway
- Surveillance By Flying Saucer
- Quadrotor UAV Makes First Arrest In UK
- LaWS Laser Can Take Out Rogue Drones
| Brin's 1990 Novel Earth Still Full Of Predictions |
| Amazon One Is Frank Herbert's Palm Lock |
| Who Needs Dogs? Trained Bees Detect Explosives |
| Government In-Home Surveillance - Yes! Say Third Of Under-30 Adults |
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'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
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'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.'
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
