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"A good science fiction story should be able to predict not the automobile but the traffic jam."
- Frederik Pohl

Self-Charging Robot  
  A robot that is able to autonomously find an electrical outlet and plug itself in to recharge.  

Amanda glared at the little object on wheels - it was about the size of a rollerskate and it seemed to be considering what to do next. It turned its photoelectric scanners this way and that, waving its jointed grappling arms about. Then it appeared to make up its mind, and trundled over to a wall socket in the baseboard, plugged itself in and proceeded to recharge itself.
Technovelgy from Callahan and the Wheelies, by Stephen Barr.
Published by Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1960
Additional resources -

The Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner can now perform this feat, just fifty short years later.

Also, compare to the charging arm robot from Masters of Chance (1941) by William Morrison and to the Autonomously Recharging UAV from Roger Zelazny's 1980 novel Changeling.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Callahan and the Wheelies
  More Ideas and Technology by Stephen Barr
  Tech news articles related to Callahan and the Wheelies
  Tech news articles related to works by Stephen Barr

Self-Charging Robot-related news articles:
  - Human Teaches Robot Ping Pong, Then Challenges It
  - Marvin Intel's Self-Charging Robot
  - 'Wheelie' Robotic Server
  - Self-Charging Nao Robot Video
  - Linux Robot Masters Automatic Charging
  - Tesla Robotaxis Will Automatically Recharge Themselves
  - Tesla Will Have Metal Gear Snake Autocoupler, Musk Confirms

Articles related to Robotics
Barista Robot Perfects Latte Swirl With Multi-DOF Wriggle
Safe Street Rebel Autonomous Vehicle Luddites And Schachner's 1931 Robot-Deranger
ARX-5 Doing Robot Arm Dancing
Inbiodroid Prometheus 2.0 Telepresence Avatar Robot

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