Questions tagged [robots]
For questions about machines (esp. programmable machines) capable of carrying out complex tasks.
211
questions
13
votes
11answers
3k views
Keeping the horde of nanomachines at bay?
So, there are three major powers in the setting that can be reasoned with, and a fourth that is just there to destroy. I have a problem with balancing them.
The so-called nature spirits are creatures ...
4
votes
0answers
108 views
How could a station on Cordelia be designed in order to extract helium-3 and deuterium from Uranus? [closed]
Some details:
At the end of the 21st century, the first expedition to Uranus launches to mine helium-3 and deuterium from its atmosphere. The plan involves a tether dangled into the upper atmosphere ...
2
votes
6answers
130 views
What essential operation had to be run on autopilot in a manned combat powered armour?
In the near future, the military deploys hundred of thousands of combat ready powered armours for peace keeping purpose around the world, they carry heavy weapons and an array of sophisticated sensors ...
-1
votes
1answer
64 views
Bipedal haptic robot warriors - can they stand up and walk?
Currently (2020) there are bipedal robots that can walk. However they contain a lot of expensive electronics in order to support their self-contained AI.
In crude (and heartless) terms, it's less ...
asked Jul 6 at 18:14
chasly - reinstate Monica
32.2k11 gold badges101 silver badges206 bronze badges
0
votes
2answers
102 views
The Sparagmos is a WMD that uses nanites to eat other nanites. Would it be effective as described?
So, in this world, nanites can be best described as COVID-19 on steroids, though they can do other stuff, like disable bio-weapons and enhance crop yield. Some nanomachines can be designed to be as ...
-4
votes
1answer
81 views
How to induce Mandela effect to the entire nation that machines are uprising?
Set in the 18th century C.E. somewhere in Europe with population of slightly more than 2 million, they are just starting to light up the streets using electricity and for the first time they gets to ...
5
votes
4answers
291 views
What would a war robot actually look like? [closed]
As cool as giant robots are and humanoid robots are, they are not the most practical things.
I've seen things like human ships crewed by robots, but looking at this, i mean why? Why not make the whole ...
2
votes
3answers
115 views
Scientifically plausible non-WMD parasite/grey-goo clouds?
So, grey goo isn't exactly the most useful thing from a military standpoint, not just because of high-entropy and metastable materials that you can't get chemical energy out of, but also that:
Me: ...
2
votes
3answers
154 views
Artifacts to keep killer robots and only killer robots at bay?
So, I already have robots in my setting in the form of artifacts, from golems to the Antiochian Holy Hand Grenade. Artifacts, though exotic, are nothing more than advanced technology, so much so that ...
1
vote
5answers
161 views
How can the “Atheism Smash” disable divine magic in a given area?
So, saints. I ABSOLUTELY DESPISE THEM. They're the equivalent of a pay2winner or the GM's (Game Master) girl/boyfriend. They literally have Bruce Almighty backing them up! They don't earn any of their ...
3
votes
1answer
67 views
How could the display technology of self-rewriting books work?
Oh yes, it's Artifact Time! with Best Dad and Ozen the Immovable!
If you watched Hairy Plotter and the Gas Chamber of Secrets, you probably remember the scene where the Horcrux of Adolf Hitler is ...
5
votes
4answers
677 views
Homing arrows, how can they work?
In paper, the reason why Joerg and various whacky bows and crossbows made a return and phased out guns in this setting is because of two factors:
Cheap homing arrows. Even anti-material rifles, like ...
3
votes
2answers
113 views
Would a collective mass of nanobots function properly as a single robot?
In my story, I want to explore a concept similar to Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Terminator genisys, with a robot that is in fact composed of millions of nanobots, which thus grants it the ability ...
2
votes
4answers
238 views
Disney buys all the rights on sex bots [closed]
Year 2030, and sex bots have now been around since the early 2018 and existed as a concept for more than half a century.
But during the last years they became more and more common, they are not in ...
5
votes
1answer
136 views
Finding ways to robots feel pleasure
Given a world where a human-like brain is synthetizable, I wonder:
A human-like artificial brain would most likely crave sensorial overwhelm. Pleasure to humans is something deeply associated with ...
5
votes
1answer
85 views
How to keep internal organs functioning within an exoskeleton suit in different gravity levels?
This question answers the issue I was wondering about of how well an exoskeleton suit could help my characters move as normal in higher and lower gravity Could a robotic exoskeleton give humans Earth ...
2
votes
2answers
99 views
How to prevent people from ever using the Founder Titan again without rendering it inoperable?
So, If you're familiar with the anime GATE (not to be confused with Stein's Gate) or A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, you probably know what's going on and why I have a boiling hatred ...
3
votes
1answer
72 views
Mechanics and structure for an artificial giant creature?
I originally wanted to create giant land biological life-forms but the square cube law is limiting me to sauropod body sized creatures so another element of my story is artificially enhanced ...
-2
votes
1answer
94 views
Why do some demons need mirrors to manifest? [closed]
Mirrors are a particularly interesting part of magic. They're gateways for otherwordly entities, cause bad luck when broken, and most importantly...
There is a scientific explanation for all of that.
...
8
votes
5answers
168 views
Can clockwork robots have any sensory apparatus other than touch/contact/pressure? [duplicate]
Ignoring the constraints of mechanical computation, what sensory modes are even available to such a robot?
Even in the 21st century artificial odor detection is rather primitive, and we have over a ...
25
votes
14answers
9k views
Can programming “mutate”?
Can the programming of simple nanobots randomly change to create a similar effect as mutations in DNA?
This question has a very similar idea as I wanted, although in this case the nanobots are capable ...
6
votes
2answers
148 views
The curious case of tengu, the “geometric anomaly” of their human disguises and how they can overcome it
Tengu are humanoid creatures with many avian features, including wings and beaks. Now, this is a problem when it comes to disguises.
Disguises in this setting work by covering one's body in utility ...
6
votes
4answers
336 views
How can my Mage Light spell work?
While I'm working on the Magical Artillery, let's look at another common spell.
Mage Light is a very handy invention. When cast, the spell creates an orb, 13 cm in diameter. The orb radiates white ...
2
votes
2answers
120 views
Interchangeable rooms
So, in the S.S Portland (The main setting of my story) there is a variety of rooms. A lounge, a lab, etc. so, i was thinking that at some point, the lounge would be changed out for a 0-g pool. A band ...
2
votes
4answers
120 views
Can a mind-reader “peer” into the databanks of a robot? [closed]
In my world, an alien species went to visit a medieval fantasy world with the intention of colonizing it. They sent out a scout robot that can look and act like a human. His mission is just to get ...
16
votes
14answers
5k views
What problems would arise for the human species making itself into robots
In modern day society, few or many people have been fascinated with integrating robotic parts to their bodies. But sometimes that idea is taken to the next step, in which people want to have their ...
4
votes
1answer
93 views
Growing organic tissue over a machine
In a short story I created, humanity encounters a sentient and consciousness messenger that is alien in nature and origin. Upon further examination, it turns out that there is organic tissue grown ...
0
votes
1answer
77 views
What material could be used to replicate body fat in an advanced android/ humanoid robot?
I think that robots in the future will have to have a system similar to adipose tissue that would have similar functions of those of people and animals. I believe that if an android is supposed to ...
8
votes
3answers
227 views
Sensors for a clockwork/fluidic robot?
So, mechanical computers are a thing, as are pneumatic and hydraulic actuators.
Combining those ideas, it's not that hard to design simple purely-pneumatic/hydraulic robots--provide them with a ...
2
votes
1answer
99 views
What adaptations should a utility fog, that's meant to be an air-fuel explosive, have?
I found a way to ensure that even if either the Japanese Self-Defense Force or the U.S Army invades my fantasy world, its inhabitants would still have a fighting chance.
Utiltiy Fog
Hall thought ...
2
votes
2answers
132 views
How can I create strong structures with a drone swarm?
Continuing from my previous questions about a swarm of millimetre-sized drones, I want them to be able to interlock or by some method form into strong functioning structures, like a gun or a baseball ...
0
votes
1answer
52 views
How cities with deceitful robots score higher in happiness? [closed]
Set in the immediate future AI took many forms from an invisible alarm clock that wakes you only after you had done with wet dreams to an autonomous flying vehicle that map out routes filled with ...
3
votes
4answers
146 views
What would be the most reliable type of control systen for a piloted giant robot? [closed]
I was thinking of one similiar to the system from Patlabor or the original Moble Suit Gundam: an onboard AI which takes in inputs from a control panel/voice commands an interprets the best way to ...
26
votes
21answers
6k views
Why would an AI overlord want to give their robot citizens emotion?
In my world, a hyper-intelligent AI has struck out on their own to form a perfect, mechanized empire, populated by loyal robot citizens, devoted to the overlord as a child would be devoted to their ...
3
votes
1answer
89 views
Nanomachines and deception are the essence of magic, how can I explain meteor showers and similar large-scale weather spells?
So, dragons have access to this thing, called word magic. Word-magic spells are typically need way more energy and processing power than regular magic, they also have nasty cool-down times. A dragon ...
8
votes
2answers
2k views
Could a robot that can survive at the center of the Earth also survive a nuclear explosion?
The robot in question is a very large, worm-like mining robot with a huge drill on its front end, built to survive staggering levels of heat and pressure. It's so resiliant, in fact, that it can ...
2
votes
4answers
199 views
Is my robot concept viable?
I've developed a concept for a robot, and I need it reality-checked. The main body of the robot consists of little more than a brain, an eye, a battery, and a number of powerful electromagnets. It ...
-3
votes
1answer
89 views
what are the properties of anti-magic? [closed]
In my fantasy world, magic has four specific properties:
Magic is a product of living things. Wherever there is life, there is magic. The greater the concentration of living things, the more magic ...
3
votes
4answers
214 views
could a robot fly with powerful enough electromagnets?
The robot in question is a large, worm-like mining robot built for digging tunnels. It has electromagnets positioned throughout the segments of its body, for the purpose of pulling metals out of the ...
1
vote
2answers
119 views
Can sentient androids function like regular intelligent lifeforms? [closed]
I want there to be conscious enough androids in my story for it to make sense that they inhabit their own country and run it just like humans would.
How would that work?
How does reproduction work?
...
7
votes
2answers
520 views
How much energy does a bee/micro robot need per second of flight?
In my scifi setting small utility robot swarms are used for many purposes. I'm currently trying to estimate how much energy such a swarm would need to operate. Since biology, robotics and ...
2
votes
4answers
125 views
What makes an unstoppable droid army? [closed]
So my question is what would make an army of droids unstoppable when facing against humanoid species? (specifically how would droids be designed)
For context one person sets foot on a planet with ...
0
votes
2answers
242 views
How plausible does the power source for this fictional giant robot sound?
Here is a big one for you engineering fans to chew on.
First off, a little context:
The giant robot in question is called Mazinger Z, considered to be fiction's first pilotable mecha, launching the ...
9
votes
1answer
194 views
How fast could a humanoid robot run?
Speedsters like Quicksilver and the Flash run far faster than a real human ever could. A human body could not withstand the force of friction, survive the rapid acceleration, or process stimuli fast ...
8
votes
7answers
236 views
Android vs. Biped/Humanoid Robot in the Military
In the story I am writing, a robotics company receives funding from the military to create a prototype for a combat android capable of passing as human but I am having trouble justifying the need for ...
3
votes
3answers
229 views
What could potentially lead to a AI/robot-driven post-apocalyptic world?
Let's say that it's the 23rd century. Climate change has gotten worse and resources are dwindling to dangerously low levels. Coastal cities have flooded, displacing hundreds of millions of people ...
3
votes
2answers
232 views
Batteries for droids [closed]
In Star Wars (again), one of the most recurring characters is R2-D2. Even though he's in most of the movies, I (personally) have never seen him charging. I've seen him do a lot of power consuming ...
3
votes
4answers
311 views
Is it plausible to to cover a desert in self-replicating solar panels, using only the materials found in the desert?
Silicon is the main material used in both computers and solar panels.
Sand is silicon.
Deserts have a lot of sand and sun.
This may be an oversimplified way of looking at things, but could we ...
3
votes
2answers
185 views
Deadly virus going extinct - “grey goo” a solution?
With the evolving global warming and thawing of permafrost, an ancient deadly virus begins to spread from Siberia across Eurasia, affecting domestic animals first and mutating quickly onto the rest of ...
-2
votes
2answers
175 views
WW3 The robot war [closed]
In the near future could robots that exist today be slightly modified to go off road or in water. In the show called "Battlebots" I imagine, what if it was bot vs Solder. The show is a must watch to ...
