ReadyBot Robot Picks Up Like Heinlein 'Hired Girl'
The ReadyBot cleaning robot now has a vital new feature; the ability to pick up before cleaning up. ReadyBot can now go around the room grabbing all those miscellaneous objects before vacuuming.
(ReadyBot cleaning robot picks up video)
This skill is what distinguishes Robert Heinlein's 'Hired Girl' robot from the crop of vacuuming robots like Roomba.
...Anything larger than a BB shot it picked up and placed in a tray on its upper surface, for someone brighter to decide whether to keep or throw away...
(Read more about Heinlein's Hired Girl)
It's also interesting to note that the ReadyBot is also a kind of supervisory bot - robot swarm leader? It can deploy a more conventional vacuum cleaning robot when needed.
Drosophila Robotica, The Mechanical Fly
'... the Scarab [flying robot] buzzed into the great workroom as any intruding insect might...'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.
Robo-Raven Flapping Wing Robot Bird
'When he had first built them, they had been crude indeed, flying mechanisms with little more than a reflex-response unit.'- Philip E. High, 1968.
Bartendro Robot Bartender
'He sipped the cognac that the robot bartender handed him...'- Alfred Bester, 1956.
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Sky City's 220 Stories Are Go
'It rested among green parklands and... stood in total isolation, a glittering block of whites and flashing windows dotted with colors.'
Robo-Raven Flapping Wing Robot Bird
'When he had first built them, they had been crude indeed, flying mechanisms with little more than a reflex-response unit.'