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"[Science fiction] has become big business, where books are merchandised and promoted and distributed and placed on sale like slabs of bacon or cans of soup."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Teleoperated Robot Surrogate | ||
| A robot that is entirely controlled remotely by a person who sees with the point of view of the robot. |
This very short story offers an early fictionalized account of a teleoperated robot. In use, the operator sees with the perspective of the robot's vision.
In the story, roboticist Dr. Alvin Peabody, who describes himself as "scrawny and fluffy-headed," seeks a date with another researcher in the field, Muriel Winthrop.
| My prize robot, tall, dashing would speak and act for me...
I turned to where, on my desk, I had set up my controls. To my ears I clamped receivers, upon my eyes I bound the gogglelike televisors that would coincide my viewpoint with that of the robot. A transmitter would place my voice upon those sculptured lips. My hands touched a great keyboard, whence, perfect through long practice, I could direct lifelike motion. My toe pressed a switch. At once, my vision-point changed. I seemed to sit on the bed's edge, gazing through the robot's pupils. I touched the keys, and rose to my - but that was an illusion, born of years of such experiments. I remained silent, but the robot rose. I moved it across the floor, closed its fingers around the doorknob, and set it out into the hall. My hearing, vision and awareness went along with that excellent imitation of a young Adonis... |
| From The Robot and the Lady,
by Manly Wade Wellman. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1938 Additional resources -
|
When he gets to the restaurant, he meets the beautiful Miss Winthrop, "tall and youthfully curved, filling [her] coat to snugness." However, after a few minutes of conversation, he finds that Miss Winthrop, too, has sent a robot!
She is disappointed with him, expecting a "refined, scholarly-looking gentleman of about forty, with spectacles." When he, in turn, learns that she is no tall ice princess, but rather "quite small," "red hair," and finally "nose turns up, with freckles" he can no longer contain himself. He offers to meet her at the restaurant in fifteen minutes - "make it ten," she breathed.
Ah, love at second sight.
Simple examples of this kind of robot already exist; see the PEBBLES teleconferencing robot for homebound school children and the InTouch medical rounding robot for doctors.
In case you don't think that robots could look enough like people to fool you (at least temporarily), take a look at Repliee Q1.
Compare also to the rolov from the 1953 story Roll out the Rolov! by Christopher Anvil. Compare to eccentric projection from The Girl Who Was Plugged In (1974) by James Tiptree, Jr.
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Tech news articles related to works by Manly Wade Wellman
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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 Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
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''... major cities of Earth have free electrical power conveniently processed from their own noise.'
'The appearance was enough like a giant witch's broom to justify the nickname.'
'A vast circle of scarlet stars came up into the greenish desert dusk.'
'He had constructed an organ, a brain, of metal, entirely inorganic and lifeless...'
'I shall never forget the sight... when the yellow gleam of the precious metal appeared under the star dust.'
Oh, and now I suppose someone will develop the robotic porch pirate.
'This thing will start at one end of ...a house and build it complete to the other end, following drawings only.'
