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» Flare Sci-Fi Forums » Community » Officers' Lounge » People of Earth: TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT!!

   
Author Topic: People of Earth: TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT!!
Mark Nguyen
I'm a daddy now!
Member # 469

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http://space.com/businesstechnology/070301_technovel_superbot.html

This time, it's the advent of the next, next generation of robotic space exploration. Instead of sending one, do-it-all bot to sit around or roll around the surface, send a bunch of smaller robotic "blocks" that can assemble themselves into different shapes to best accomplish the task at hand. You can have a walking bot to traverse rough terrain... Which would then reassemble itself into a wheel or tread for smoother surfaces. Need an arm? Build one with the component blocks for a bigger reach to see or touch something. Malfunctioning block? Good thing there are other ones with redundant features that can replace the broken one on-site.

The closest SF refs are things like the replicators from SG-1, the Suliban cell ships, or even the Concensus of Parts from Andromeda. Pretty neat stuff.

Mark

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"This is my timey-wimey detector. Goes ding when there's stuff." - Doctor Who
The 404s - Improv Comedy | Mark's Starship Bridge Designs | Anime Alberta

Registered: Dec 2000  |  IP: Logged
Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33

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You do one more "PEOPLE OF EARTH" announcement and I am going to dropkick you off the CN Tower!!!!

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"And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian
FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!

Registered: Mar 1999  |  IP: Logged
Da_bang80
A few sectors short of an Empire
Member # 528

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Sounds like this "Doctor Shen" spent too much time in Legoland...

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Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.
The courage to change the things I cannot accept.
And the wisdom to hide the bodies of all the people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.

Remember when your parents told you it's dangerous to play in traffic?

Registered: Feb 2001  |  IP: Logged
   

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