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"...the people dealing with these new technologies will still be derived from the human stock we're familiar with today."
- Charles Stross
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| Robot Chef | ||
| Creative, autonomous robotic cook. |
Which would make the better robotic chef; a machine shaped like a person, or something more specialized?
| "...But an android cook would go nuts because man's body isn't enough. I've cooked; I know. So we'll give the usuform more. For instance, give him Martoid tentacles instead of arms. Maybe instead of legs give him an automatic sliding height adjustment to avoid all the bending and stooping, with a roller base for quick movement. And make the tentacles functionally specialized.
 (Usuform robot from 'Robinc' by Anthony Boucher) "Half your time in cooking is wasted reaching around for what you need next. We can build in a lot of that stuff. For instance, one tentacle can be a registering thermometer. tapering to a fine point - stick it in a roast and - One can end in a broad spoon for stirring - heat resistant, of course. One might terminate in a sort of hand, of which each of the digits was a different-sized measuring spoon. And best of all - why the nuisance of bringing food to the mouth to taste? Install taste buds in the end of one tentacle. "I'll bet I know why android cooks were never too successful. Nobody ever included the Verhaeren factor in their brains." |
| Technovelgy from Robinc,
by Anthony Boucher. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1943 Additional resources -
|
See the references for usuform robot and the Verhaeren factor to find out why this robot would be a better cook.
See also the robot cook from Lester del Rey's 1938 short story Helen O'Loy.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Robinc
More Ideas
and Technology by Anthony Boucher
Tech news articles related to Robinc
Tech news articles related to works by Anthony Boucher
Robot Chef-related
news articles:
- CIROS Robot Makes Your Salad
- AIC-CI Cookingrobot Chinese Robotic Chef
- Robot Chef Makes Octopus Balls
- Robot Chef Learns By Demonstration
- B21 Kitchen Robot Shares Cooking Tips With Other Bots
- Robot Prepares Pancakes For Breakfast
- Robots Should Replace Cafeteria Ladies, Say Students
- Robots Mix, Flip Pancakes Made From Scratch
- Robot Roommates Shop For, Prepare Breakfast
- Noodle-Shaving Robot Army Invades China
| Robots Repair And Modify Themselves |
| Robot Janitors Get To Work |
| Robots Learn To Install Charged Batteries Into Themselves |
| Robot Rabbits Entice Pythons |
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'...small electric motors at the principal joints worked the prosthetic framework by means of steel cables...'
'Living protoplasm incorporated into the Ampek F-a2 recording system...'
'Twoflower's Luggage, which was currently ambling along on its little legs...'
'He came to as the ship went into free flight, arching in a high parabola over the plains...'
'The peculiar quality of this light, which gave it its great preeminence over all other penetrating rays...'
'The overworked leg motor would have to cool down before he could work on it...'
‘Where to, sport?’ the starter at cab relay asked.
