On mechanoids and robots

Started by MAKAIROSI, December 13, 2016, 12:01:05 PM

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MAKAIROSI

So i read somewhere in the forum that robots are supposed to be glitterworld tech. I have no idea why. If we can build a comms console and a tube television, programmable air conditioning and even solar panels (in the latest version we don't even need specific tools, they just have them already i suppose) then what's keeping us from creating a simple cleaning robot? Maybe it just cleans the room it's installed in, and the room has to be square or rectangle shaped. But tech-wise it's far from "glitterworld", we even have it now, we can even make it ourselves in our homes right now.

I think glitterworld techs are supposed to be nanotechnology and genetic engineering, but not robots. An exo-skeleton is not glitterworld, a cleaning robot isn't, not even a hauling robot (as long as it carries stuff on a straight line) isn't glitterworld. Or a robot that smelts steel bars or a robot that chips stone. There are a ton of really basic jobs that look silly when you can actually build a spaceship. We can build a functioning cryo-chamber but we can't build a cleaning robot or one that picks items from one place and puts them in another place.

Now mechanoids are different. They can move freely, target and fire weapons. Although targetting and firing have already been achieved (our improvised turrets are just that) moving freely on unexpected ground shapes is extremely difficult. That, to me, is glitterworld tech, yes. But a cleaning bot isn't. I'm thinking of buying one myself and i live on Earth, and we don't have cryochambers or spaceships able to hop from planet to planet yet!

Robots should be available as a tech and buildable before the spaceship. And they should replace really basic jobs but also be programmable (move 5 feet, turn left, move 3 feet, pickup, turn left, turn left, move 3 feet, turn right, move 5 feet, empty cargo). All this is simple to implement without ruining the immersion.