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 is] nightmares and visions, always outlined by the barely possible."
- Gregory Benford
 |
| Usuform Robot | ||
| A robot designed strictly along functional lines. |
In the story, there is a robot epidemic. Arms and legs become weak and need maintenance - maybe it's because a robot that sits all day doesn't need legs.
What good is a robot shaped like a man, when when it does a simple, repetitive job?
| "Almost every robot, except perhaps a few like farmhands, does only one or two things and does those things constantly. All right. Shape them so that they can best do just those things, with no parts left over. give them a brain, eyes and ears to receive commands, and whatever [sensory] organs they need to do their work...
That's the source of your whole robot epidemic. They were all burdened down with things they didn't need... "But this can't be done overnight. People are used to android robots... They'll be scared of your unhuman-looking contraptions... Give'em a name. A good name... Keep 'robots' thats common domain... I've got it. Usuform. Quinby's Usuform Robots. Q.U.R." |
| From Q.U.R.,
by Anthony Boucher. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1943 Additional resources -
|
Another fascinating part of this story is the discussion of how wasteful it is to have a full "mechanical man" when all you need is just a brain, sensory devices and some sort of manipulators for most tasks.
"A good point... You have convinced me that android robots are a prime example of conspicuous waste..."
"Robinc is slowly using up all our resources of metallic and radioactive ore, isn't it?" Quinby asked... "And our usuforms will use only a fraction of what Robinc's androids need."
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Q.U.R.
More Ideas
and Technology by Anthony Boucher
Tech news articles related to Q.U.R.
Tech news articles related to works by Anthony Boucher
Usuform Robot-related
news articles:
- Do People Prefer Humanoid Robots?
- Robots Don't Need To Be Humanoid
- A Bayesian Approach to Safe Imitation Learning For AIs and Robots
| Abundant Robotics Autonomous Apple Harvester Robot |
| China Building Robot Wives |
| Stan, Robot Valet, Will Drag Your Car Away |
| Jibo Home Robot Says Goodbye, Is Killswitched |
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 Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'A metal... light as cork and stronger than steel...'
'Ken lay full-length in the padded body compartment, his feet resting on the controlling bars of the directional planes, hands on the torpoon's engine levers.'
'... little machines, that went from plant to plant... cutting off the ripe fruit.'
'Recharge the batteries... in almost every town and village...'
'...a tiny, rocket-powered projectile, drove towards the mysterious bulk. It hit, exploding into a cloud of incandescent vapour.'
'The flycycles were miracles of compact design.'
These drones can provide situational awareness beyond visual line-of-sight capability.
'It resembled conventional human-operated transportation vehicles, but with one exception -- there was no driver's cabin.'
'Each one consists of a hub with many tiny spokes... On the end is a squat foot, rubber tread on the bottom...'
'A paper thin polycarbon screen unfurled silently from the top of the unit and immediately grew rigid.'
