I am. It was out of date when written.
Why not more Robots?
- Thread starter Greylond
- Start date
I am. It was out of date when written.
MgT Robots Book has rules for Inhibitors and references Asimov's laws...
I don't have that book. Does it say that Inhibitors and Asimov's laws are used in the OTU?
Hans
No, they do but computers have advanced. The "hacker" would have to rip the 'bot apart and replace the H/W. Even now I could design a h/w + s/w system that would require that. Too many people think that just because hackers can defeat poorly designed systems that they can mess with well designed ones without herculean effort.
About MgT robots, maybe this slightly old thread might interest you. It left (as most threads) some questions open...: http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=26723
That was my thought at the time when I first read about possible robot use in Traveller. A passenger (with psi powers) boarding a ship might be told that his robot has to be loaded as cargo rather than sit with the passengers. He then uses his psi powers to flatten the steward's head and security is called in to take out the passenger while his robot protects him. It's a bloddy mess.
In Star Wars: The Motion Picture, a bartender tells Luke and Obi that he doesn't serve their kind (pointing at R2-D2 and C3-P0).
You are not in the '80s right now. Are you?
Even though I played Traveller in the '80s. I too, had to pretend I was playing in the '70s when it came to using computers in the game. Remember how Lowell Freeman programmed his drones? Those were some EPROMs.
I guess we all have different standards for what breaks our belief suspenders depending on our personal knowledge. I have no problem believing in nebulous ultra-technology that can defeat nebulous standard ultra-tech robot designs well enough to explain why robots are rare in my game setting. Or in the OTU for that matter.
Hans
Last edited:
Thanks, I'll read through that one.
I don't do outright magic IMTU when there is no defining lines like Jump Drive or AG. It gets messy very quickly with players that have IQ's >100.
CT Robots came out int he 80's from what I recall...
Yes, it did.
CosmicGamer
SOC-14 1K
Just curious, why not just hire NPC crew?
Neither do I. But you haven't demonstrated that your TL7 knowledge is the last word in TL 15 technology. Not to my satisfaction.
Hans
Yes, it says that Inhibitors are fairly common. It only costs 100 credits to add to a Robot and the Inhibitors can be customized, i.e. IFF System for a Combat Robot to keep it from firing on Friendlies.
Good question: once due lack of staterooms, the other time player's choice.
In the case of engineers, the ship was a custoum built spy ship not though for a large crew, and they already used double occupancy with a fire team of mercenary (mostly marine) background players, with few space skills (and mostly gunnery).
In the case of the medic, just they choosed that.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
There are robots all over the OTU - you just don't notice them for what they are.
They are the TL12 vending machines, the TL15 entertainment consoles, the TL10 house control systems, the TL9 manufactories etc (the list could go on).
What you rarely find in the Third Imperium are humanoid robots performing tasks that people can do.
Note that LBB 8 Robots is very poorly worded in places and self contradictory - read the first few pages and notice the definition of AI there then compare with the descriptions later in the book.
Now dig out the JTAS cd and check the robots article. Look at the adventure that included robots (Research Station Gamma).
I full agree with something HG_B said right back on page 1 - AI and AS are totally different things.
By TL 12 in the OTU robots and computers are fully AI capable by today's standards of what AI represents. What they are not is self aware. That requires the Artificial Sentience that doesn't appear until much higher TLs.
They are the TL12 vending machines, the TL15 entertainment consoles, the TL10 house control systems, the TL9 manufactories etc (the list could go on).
What you rarely find in the Third Imperium are humanoid robots performing tasks that people can do.
Note that LBB 8 Robots is very poorly worded in places and self contradictory - read the first few pages and notice the definition of AI there then compare with the descriptions later in the book.
Now dig out the JTAS cd and check the robots article. Look at the adventure that included robots (Research Station Gamma).
I full agree with something HG_B said right back on page 1 - AI and AS are totally different things.
By TL 12 in the OTU robots and computers are fully AI capable by today's standards of what AI represents. What they are not is self aware. That requires the Artificial Sentience that doesn't appear until much higher TLs.
To throw something in the mix, you might consider the difference between robots and androids (not the Droid of Star Wars as that is a IP/copyright issue. 
)
Robots are the automated check out cashiers (kind of like you find at Walmart self check out).
Android is the human (animal) looking thing that is patrol the ship, running the flight controls, doing that simple medical procedure cause you can't not stand sitting in the medical coffin robot (auto medic box).
Robots are kind of every where and little thought of until they break. Android are not every where because they do cost more, some places don't like them and some places they are worth more to theives than the rest of your cargo.
Andriod and robots come in 2 flavors of processing, routine and thinking. The thinking kind can learn and adjust the higher (better) the processing material and programing they can actually develop pesonalities until reset.
Most do not bother making a robot super smart unless it is a facilities robot that handles all the general building needs or complex needs.
There are some robots that move around and do things, but the main difference between mobile robots and an android is the android looks like some other living creature.
Just some food for thought in a sense.
Dave Chase
)Robots are the automated check out cashiers (kind of like you find at Walmart self check out).
Android is the human (animal) looking thing that is patrol the ship, running the flight controls, doing that simple medical procedure cause you can't not stand sitting in the medical coffin robot (auto medic box).
Robots are kind of every where and little thought of until they break. Android are not every where because they do cost more, some places don't like them and some places they are worth more to theives than the rest of your cargo.
Andriod and robots come in 2 flavors of processing, routine and thinking. The thinking kind can learn and adjust the higher (better) the processing material and programing they can actually develop pesonalities until reset.
Most do not bother making a robot super smart unless it is a facilities robot that handles all the general building needs or complex needs.
There are some robots that move around and do things, but the main difference between mobile robots and an android is the android looks like some other living creature.
Just some food for thought in a sense.
Dave Chase
CosmicGamer
SOC-14 1K
What is the back door for the little robot dog my granddaughter has?
Input: It senses light, motion and has some touch sensors.
Output: It bounces and spins around. It barks and makes other dog like sounds.
It has no ports, unless you call the battery compartment a port.
There may be a way to take it apart. I'm not going to rip the fur off the body to look for screws.
Most likely there is a hard wired chip that controls everything. It would take equipment probably not currently in existence to open the chip and rewire the transistors and such.
I guess you could rip the dog apart and replace the chip then carefully put it back together. You'd need a similar bot of your own to rip apart and figure out and test on.
That really is hacking.
Perhaps easier to build your own robot to impersonate your target and swap them out?
Oh, that sort of inhibitions. Sure, that's just a matter of programming. And suceptible to subversion. The point of Asimovian robots is that tampering with the Three Laws destroys the robot brain.
Hans
