Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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
"What I have in my stories is ethics. Ethics and morality are very different cups of tea. I adhere to a very strict rigor of personal ethics and I demand it of those around me as well."
- Harlan Ellison
 |
| Usuform Robot Bartender | ||
| A robotic bartender that is designed along purely functional lines. |
The Empire, which held sway throughout the solar system, had a problem. Only by negotiating with a key Martian ambassador could necessary access to mining rights be obtained, and this ambassador refused to go off-planet because he couldn't get a decent Three Planets. Only Martian bartenders, with their many tentacles, could make a Three Planets; only they could measure out exactly the right amount of vuzd, for instance. Would it be possible to construct a Three Planets drink with a robot?
| I took one sip and said, "Where's Guzub?... this Three Planets, it's perfect..."
Quinby opened a door. There sat the first original Quinby usuform - no remake of a Robinc model, but a brand-new creation. Quniby said, "Three Planets," and he [the robot] went into action. He had tentacles, and the motions were exactly like Guzub's except that he himself was the shaker. He poured the liquids into his maw, joggled about, and then poured them out of a hollow hoselike tentacle."
 (Robot Bartender from 'Q.U.R.' by Anthony Boucher) |
| Technovelgy from Q.U.R.,
by Anthony Boucher. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1943 Additional resources -
|
Here's how Quinby got the information he needed to construct Guzub II, the robot bartender.
By now, you're probably wanting a Three Planets, and you're wondering when robotic tentacles will be up to the task. Take a look at the Snake-Arm Robots From OCRobotics and the OctArm robotic tentacle bot to learn more.
Compare to the Thorsen memory tube from Door into Summer (1956) by Robert Heinlein.
Compare to the robot bartender from The Stars My Destination (1956) by Alfred Bester.
Thanks to Winchell Chung for suggesting this item.
"I got one of those new electronic cameras - you know, one thousand exposures per second... So we took pictures of Guzub making a Three Planets, and I could construct this one to do it exactly right down to the thousandth of a second. The proper proportion of vuzd, in case you're interested, works out to three-point-six-five-four-seven eight-two-three drops. It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat. It didn't seem right to use Guzub to make a robot that would compete with him and probably drive him out of business, so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties on usuform barkeeps."
Comment/Join this discussion ( 1 ) | 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 Bartender-related
news articles:
- The Miraculous Stigmatabot Robot Bartender
- Pancake-Flipping Robot Learns By Example
- Robot Learns To Clean Whiteboard, Suck Up To Teacher
- Robot Bartender (Or Waiter) From Carnegie Mellon
- Monsieur Bartending Robot
- Robot Bartenders At Sea
- Robots Learn Cooking By Watching Videos - Foreseen In 1943
- Robot Chef Makes Thousands Of Dinners
- NVIDIA's DAVE2 Autonomous Car Learns From Drivers
- Computers Understand Humans By Watching And Modeling Them
- Robot Dog Learns To Be Doggy From Real Dogs
- Barista Robot Perfects Latte Swirl With Multi-DOF Wriggle
| Robot Janitors Get To Work |
| Robots Learn To Install Charged Batteries Into Themselves |
| Robot Rabbits Entice Pythons |
| Mori3 Autonomous Shapeshifting Robot |
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 Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
This is nothing new for science fiction fans!
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...'
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...'
'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
