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"I went [to the top of] Vehicle Assembly Building and looked down, and tears burst from my eyes. The size of this cathedral where the Rockets take off to go to the moon is so amazing."
- Ray Bradbury
 |
| Gesturing Robot | ||
| A robot that uses gestures to communicate. |
In "Strange Playfellow" (aka "Robbie") by Isaac Asimov (1940) robots have not advanced to the point where they can talk, instead they use gestures. There is an impractical "talking robot" for display.
| Robbie waited until she had caught her breath and then pulled gently at a lock of hair.
"You want something?" said Gloria, eyes wide in an apparently artless complexity that fooled her huge "nursemaid" not at all. He pulled the curl harder. "Oh, I know. You want a story." Robbie nodded rapidly. "Which one?" Robbie made a semi-circle in the air with one finger. The little girl protested, "Again? I've told you Cinderella a million times. Aren't you tired of it? -It's for babies." Another semi-circle. "Oh, well," Gloria composed herself, ran over the details of the tale in her mind (together with her own elaborations, of which she had several) and began... |
| Technovelgy from Robbie (Strange Playfellow),
by Isaac Asimov. Published by Super Science Stories in 1940 Additional resources -
|
Thanks to Winchell Chung (aka @nyrath) of Project Rho for contributing this item.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Robbie (Strange Playfellow)
More Ideas
and Technology by Isaac Asimov
Tech news articles related to Robbie (Strange Playfellow)
Tech news articles related to works by Isaac Asimov
Gesturing Robot-related
news articles:
- Robonaut 2 Uses American Sign Language (ASL) on ISS
| Robot Hand Separate From Robot |
| Is Optimus Autonomous Or Teleoperated? |
| Robot Masseuse Rubs People The Right Way |
| Optimus Robot Can Charge Itself |
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'...the rocket’s landing-arms automatically unfolded.'
'...points and patches of light... sliding all over their faces in a programmed manner that had been designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
'...the combined Wind-Suncatcher, like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'
'I went to the control room where the three other men were manipulating their mechanical men.'
'The low-slung monorail car, straddling its single track, bored through the shadows on a slowly rising course.'
'It was a smooth ovoid floating a few inches from the floor...'
'... he thrust in his charging arm to replenish his store of energy.'
'...the terrible Jovian gravity that made each movement an effort.'
