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"Science and science fiction, how do you even distinguish the two?"
- Jerry Pournelle
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| Self-Repairing Robot | ||
| A mechanism that can detect faults in itself and repair them. |
An early example of the idea of a self-repairing mechanism.
| He balanced the toaster in his hand and burned a small hole in the little wheeled monster. Tentacles emerged from the side of the machine and felt puzzledly at the damaged area. The tentacles were withdrawn and presently reappeared with a small torch and began welding.
Jordan pulled the unconscious pilot toward him. He leaned against the machine, raised the inert form over his head and laid it gently on the top flat surface. Another tentacle reached out to investigate the body of the pilot. Jordan welded the joints solid with the toaster. Three times he repeated the process until the pilot was fastened to the robot. "The thing will stay here, repairing itself, until it's completely sound again," remarked Jordan. "However, that can be fixed." He adjusted the toaster beam to an imperceptible thickness. Deftly he sliced through the control case and removed a circular section. He reached inside and ripped out circuits. "No further self-repair," he said cheerfully. "Now I'm going to need your help. |
| Technovelgy from Accidental Flight,
by W.F. Wallace. Published by Galaxy in 1952 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the repair robots from The Well-Oiled Machine (1950) by H.B. Fyfe, Self-Maintaining Circuit Monitoring and Repair from Gramp and his Dog (1952) by Frank Quattrocchi, the repair robot from The Invincible (1954), by Stanislaw Lem, the service drones from The Two Faces of Tomorrow (1979) by James P. Hogan and the repair drone from Neuromancer (1984) by William Gibson.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Accidental Flight
More Ideas
and Technology by W.F. Wallace
Tech news articles related to Accidental Flight
Tech news articles related to works by W.F. Wallace
Self-Repairing Robot-related
news articles:
- Tesla Diagnoses Itself, Sends Part Request
| 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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'... he thrust in his charging arm to replenish his store of energy.'
'...the terrible Jovian gravity that made each movement an effort.'
