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"Retire? Yeah, I want to die with my head in the typewriter. That's my idea of retirement."
- Alfred Bester
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| Mechanical Cow (Nibbler) | ||
| An autonomous mechanism that performs some of the actions of an ordinary bovine. |
| The hard, irregular shape of the self-adjusting Nibbler moved over the grassland like a gigantic mechanical cow, only it had caterpiller traction bands instead of legs. Its thirty-two jaws, working alternately in echelons of eight, opened . . shut . . . nipped . . . tore . . . rhythmically. Professor Obinson had well remembered the importance of achieving conditions as identical as possible with those produced by the teeth and jaw action of herbivorous animals before the fodder went into the Metabolisers.
 (Mechanical Cow [Nibbler] from 'Down on the Farm' by Simpson Stokes) |
| Technovelgy from Down on the Farm,
by Simpson Stokes. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1937 Additional resources -
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Fans of the science fiction and fantasy webcomic Gunnerkrigg Court welcome this reference to a laser cow:
(Laser cow from Gunnerkrigg Court)
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Down on the Farm
More Ideas
and Technology by Simpson Stokes
Tech news articles related to Down on the Farm
Tech news articles related to works by Simpson Stokes
Mechanical Cow (Nibbler)-related
news articles:
- SwagBot Robotic AI Cattle-Herding From Down Under
| Golf Ball Test Robot Wears Them Out |
| PaXini Supersensitive Robot Fingers |
| Artificial Skin For Robots Is Coming Right Along |
| Robot Guard Dog On Duty |
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"The robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again...'
'There was a wall ahead... It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'...support the interior human structure against Jupiter’s pull.'
'Anything larger than a BB shot it picked up and placed in a tray...'
'The German chemists have discovered how to supply the needed elements in compact, undiluted form...'
'Compounds devised by the biochemists for the rapid building of bone...'
'The car faltered as the external command came to brake...'
'It is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized...'
