Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"in 1974 I experienced an invasion of my mind by a transcendentally rational mind, as if I had been insane all my life and suddenly I had become sane."
- Philip K. Dick
 |
| Ironing Robot | ||
| A robot that smooths the wrinkles out of clothing. |
Future Russians use natural plant fibers to recreate what their "прабабушки" (great-grandmothers) wore.
But, there was a problem. Unlike future clothing, the vintage clothing wrinkled and somehow needed to be smoothed. How could this be accomplished? Better call "Бытовых Автоматов" - Household Automata!
| New clothes had to be protected, periodically clean, wash and dry. Build special base washing and cleaning proved unsustainable, and offered to set up production plants portable washing machines. But after washing and drying clothes had to be smooth - free from fine lines and wrinkles ...
Here plant Household Automata and received an urgent task to develop and set up production units of BTR - "бытовые тканевые разглаживатели " (a household fabric smoother). |
| From Iron (утюг),
by Mikhail Mikheev. Published by Not Known in 1972 Additional resources -
|
Senior designer Rodia Semenova submits one design after another; the incredible progress of Russian science causes each to be labeled as insufficiently modern. First, the heating element is replaced by "microgenerators"; then, the microgenerators are discarded in favor of elements of colliding isotopes!
Eventually (*spoiler alert!) it appears that his tough old grandmother had the solution all along - and it was made of cast iron.
This story comes from a collection called "Cute Robots", good luck getting a copy of that, let alone a translation!
(Cute Robots by Mikhail Mikheev)
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Iron (утюг)
More Ideas
and Technology by Mikhail Mikheev
Tech news articles related to Iron (утюг)
Tech news articles related to works by Mikhail Mikheev
Ironing Robot-related
news articles:
- Police Sketch Artist Database Software
- Ironing Robot May Fulfill Russian Science Fiction Dreams
- effie Automated Ironing Appliance
| DIY Autonomous Robot Detects Trash |
| When Robots Beg For Their Lives |
| SRI MicroFactory Of Microrobots Recalls Dick's Autofac |
| Rolls Royce 'Cockroach-Sized' Repair Robots To Crawl Inside Engines |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
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.
|
'...lifted themselves to skimming flight upon whirling helicopters."
'Twenty rocket tugs towed it from its Earth hangar out into space.'
I don't need it to go fast, it just needs to amble along.
'The program raced up the screen one scan line at a time, subtly smoothing, deleting and coloring.'
'... a sound tape to supply the noise'
'The spotter descends, and we think it searches the vicinity, looking for the victim's face...'
