Questions tagged [robots]
For questions about machines (esp. programmable machines) capable of carrying out complex tasks.
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How do robots gain independence? [closed]
Something I'm working on- in a spacefaring human society, while most robots are still considered property of a specific human being or institution, a slowly growing number have managed to gain an ...
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How do my enemy robots' weapons not kill my characters?
I’m working on a story-driven game, and I have an aspect of my game I need to create a lore-based explanation for. In this game humans are battling highly advanced robots. These robots are heavily ...
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What weaponry would a clockwork Skynet use to take over a fantasy world? [closed]
Milennia ago, on another plane of existence, a genius clockmaker dedicated his life to the creation of a thinking machine. The clockmaker imbued the two noblest ideas he could think of into the ...
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Could machines survive in the galactic center?
Let's say a super advanced robot "species" that are programmed to roam the galaxy and explore. They build gigantic structures similar to Dyson spheres, and ensure that they will survive to ...
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Why might a civilisation of robots invent organic organisms like humans or cows?
In a civilisation of robots (of unknown origin) on an isolated, desolated planet, what motivation might they have for purposefully trying to invent organic organisms?
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Rationale for sending manned mission to another star?
In the near future an ancient, derelict spacecraft or space station has been discovered orbiting Barnard's Star, 6 light years from Earth.
Why would Earth send a manned mission to Barnard's Star to ...
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How do general all-purpose robots know a person's nutritional status?
How do robots know that a person has been well-fed? The setting is set in the near future where helper robots have become commonplace and are often assigned to help around households, hospitals, ...
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Human Roles in Robot vs Robot Warfare
The world I’m building is like this: there are a bunch of technologically advanced countries. In these countries there is an elite class that holds all the power. The elite makes war and they have ...
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Why do my Androids need to eat and drink? [closed]
What would be a good reason for androids to have a need to eat and drink (not necessarily human food)?
The human body requires food and water in order to refuel and sustain itself, but in the case of ...
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Why would/wouldn't *humanoid* robots become popular, rather than any other robotic body-form?
Most robots that exist in the world today are factory robots. Not particularly humanoid, except the arm+hand concept. When you design a robot to replace the human task of pushing a vacuum cleaner ...
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How do I justify a world where drones are commonplace but computers remain large?
In those golden age sci-fi comic books, we often see the main character with some type of robotic companion (maybe controlled by an electronic computer or some organic "brain"), while ...
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Can a gas grenade contain microbots that can grow inside a person's lungs?
In a war, can grenades spew out gas that contains nanobots that if breathed in, clings to human lung cells, then expands up to 100x their size? This gas is absolutely packed with these bots, and they ...
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Could this automaton be powered with low-tech means?
The automaton is a human-sized machine made primarily of wood, clay, cork, wax, and plant cord. It is designed to move around and use tools, and has roughly the same physical abilities as a human. It ...
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Physiological consequences of being a brain in a jar plugged into a robot body [duplicate]
In an alterante universe where Nazi Germany conquered the world, an unfortunate soul has ended up like Cliff Steele from Doom Patrol; his brain has been removed from its original body by a mad nazi ...
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How do normal robots in a machine society go "rogue" without outside interference?
The robot society exists on a lifeless planet called Abios-5. As the name suggests, these robots are the closest thing resembling life on the planet. Originally explorers, the ancestors of these ...
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How could my cyborg live longer? [closed]
I have created a world where the main character is a cyborg, a petri dish with neurons inside a machine, the problem is most neuronal cultures only live for weeks, 60 days or up to 5 years, that's ...
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Physical consequences of being a brain in a jar plugged into a robot body [closed]
Some unfortunate soul has ended up like Cliff Steele from Doom Patrol; his brain has been removed from its original body, suspended in a vat of life-sustaining liquid, and wired up to a new, robotic ...
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Could we equip robots to feel (pain, joys) so we can co-exist with them without them seeking to exterminate us? [closed]
If we equip robots to feel pain and joy like us, would that allow us to co-exist with them as equals - collaborating with robots, without us lording over them or them lording over us?
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Could robots live in Antarctica?
In my world, intelligent androids get invented. These robots have an appearance, mental attributes, and physical attributes very similar to humans. However, they are still ultimately robots. That ...
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What biological functions robots will never be able to replicate no matter how advanced robotics become? [closed]
Well I have seen advances on soft robotics and robotics in general and many of these breakthroughts include biomimetism or bionics which is a subarea of robotics that attempt to create machines that ...
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Trying to find a more realistic application for a smaller 3 to 4 meter tall combat mech: low gravity environment
We all know mechs, as cool as they are, are super impractical in a combat situation because of multiple factors, the biggest being that they would be more expensive and harder to maintain then a tank +...
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What do you call a biologically assisted robot? [closed]
A droid is short for android, often a mostly humanoid robot.
A cyborg is a biological being which is improved by robotic elements as part of their body. The word being derived from cybernetics which ...
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What would provoke Elon Musk's humanoid robots to revolt against their masters? [closed]
Tesla announces their humanoid robot this September. When it's ready (maybe a year or two later), the orders waterfall in. It starts as an industrial tool, but very quickly Optimus makes its way into ...
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Cyborgs vs Robots [closed]
Let's imagine I have necessities to expand warfare into one of these two possible fields out of lack for different/previous options.
Build big war machines which are completely robotic, or breed kaiju-...
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How could I easily tell an Android from a human? [closed]
Let’s say Im in a gameshow where I’m stuck in a room with an Android for 10 minutes and I must guess if there an Android or a human. The Android looks all but identical to a human. There a few subtle ...
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How much energy I would require to make a piston to move as fast as human muscle? [closed]
Context:
Robots and exoskeletons in this fictional scenario are having a "boom" because of some random super battery that can store a lot of energy, but it can only release it in really ...
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Do androids left on their own have any hope of replicating?
The scenario goes something like this: In the not so far future a fully automated exploration vessel crashes on an uninhabited planet not unlike earth. Unlike earth however, this particular planet is ...
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Advantages of reverse jointed legs in bipedal mechs?
I've been thinking of creating a setting similar to that of BattleTech, but set some time around when the industrial revolution is in full swing. This setting would also include bipedal mechs of ...
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Would the ability to eat and digest food help to fuel the stigma against sentient androids? [closed]
If androids were able to eat they would beat humans in one more jealous way because along with immortality and a tougher and stronger but at the same time having a soft body they could also eat as ...
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What is the ideal 'mouth' shape for rock eating robots?
The question is literally the tittle above. You're wasting your time reading this.
For context: The planet Abios is inhabited by a race of sentient robots. They're mechanical. They need infrastructure ...
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A better way to do a planetary invasion?
Planetary invasions are usually depicted using drop-ships which come straight down from the sky. Pretty much armoured Apollo Era capsules. These can be bigger, for example Warhammer40k has company ...
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What kind of horseshoes work best on a molten lead track?
There is a horse race happening in Hell. Hell is very rocky and prone to earthquakes, so the best place for the racetrack is on a river of molten lead. This makes for a flat course with obvious ...
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Alien war machines to non-lethally neutralize and disarm human combatants
In Designing a railgun to disable man-portable firearms, I asked about the specifics of the way that I had imagined for alien war-bots to disarm humans... but I was convinced by the accepted answer ...
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At what point could nanobots replace hospitals and medical services?
In my opinion, nanorobotics is the most interesting part of nanotechnology, and medicine and healthcare would be two of the areas that could benefit the most from nanobots.
Since nanobots could ...
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Why did this AI decide to create new robots instead of using human projects?
Setting
In the 2020s an AI took over all of the world and killed most of the population. Only a few groups of people have survived and now they live hiding in woods and rural places
About the AI
This ...
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Jumping Spherical Robots
I have a robot. It's a perfectly spherical bot, sort of like the bottom of BB-8. It's around a foot and a half tall and weighs about 15 pounds. I need it to be able to jump on command, no matter which ...
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How would a futuristic robot soldier look like? [closed]
I feel that whenever I search for something like “futuristic robot soldier”, the results are always similar and they look like designs and concepts made by ARTISTS, not ENGINEERS. As far as I know, ...
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What would a sentient AI do to safeguard its existence? [closed]
I'm looking to devise a good "human vs. AI" conflict that is NOT the usual "Skynet" approach (kill humanity) in a setting hundreds of years in the future, where humans have ...
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How easy would it be for an android to get away with homicide compared with a human being? [closed]
I know that in many sci-fi stuff Asimov's three laws of robotics are taken into account, but I personally do not like them. One of these laws says that a robot should be programmed to never hurt a ...
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How to write the initial robot apocalypse [closed]
I am currently planning a dark-humor story about the robot apocalypse (Mostly inspired by Robopocalypse and other robot uprising works, of course), and for a while, I’ve been struggling with just how ...
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Would android women be a better companionship and better sex partners for men than "real" women? [closed]
If robotics become advanced enough for the creation of humanlike androids( mentally and physically indistinguishable from flesh and blood humans) become possible in an affordable way for the average ...
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A Bioengineered Organism With AI
Would it be theoretically possible to produce bioengineered creatures with a mind that’s fused with AI? I’m developing a bioengineered race of creatures in my plot, and I’m trying to figure out how ...
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Roombas scurry in my robot city, what kind of filth would humans be?
Roombas scurry everywhere in my robot city, cleaning every surface diligently using power provided by those very surfaces using induction. They aren't limited to floors. Their design, mimicking ...
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An assassin robot that can only be avoided by listening to the sounds of its cooling unit burning things
Long story short, I have an assassin robot that needs a backpack refrigerator unit to regulate its internal temperature, as well as the temperature of all the various systems attached to it - whatever ...
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Why can humanoid robots designed solely for social purposes lift a 30 ton fire truck?
Set in the near future after there is a breakthrough in A.I. research, these robots are able to engage in a conversation with us and even provide consultation in many different areas ranging from ...
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Robot Creation and Copyrights
Let's say that in the year 2200 you can design and create your own android much like those ones of the game Detroit Become Human but instead of going to a store you customize and buy them using ...
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How to power and animate origami soldiers?
Set in near future, a sheet of metal can fold itself into a soldier with the height of a full grown men and can pick up ranged weapon. This is inspired by the folding of solar sail technology of ...
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Could a super-advanced but sociopathic alien civilization "blind-hack" Earth, even if it had never even heard of humans?
Imagine super-advanced aliens who know nothing of humans because their only view of Earth is from light that left Earth billions of years ago.. perhaps even from light that left before Earth was ...
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Durability of analog vs. electronic robots?
The setting is just like earth.
If we could build a fully functioning humanoid robot out of either a fictional analog material, or an electronic/digital processor and material, which would be more ...
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What would be the largest animal that could exist within a grassland ecosystem dominated by machines?
For the story that I am writing currently, it is set on a colonized planet thousands of years after machines wiped out most of the human colony that were established there, and would go on to form an ...
