Robot (Book 8) rule questions

[Golan2072]

I've recently read through Book 8, and tried my hand in robot design and IMTU application. A few questions, however, did arrise:

1) Does a ship's immobile, dedicated pilot/navigator/whatever brain need a power plant of its own? or is a Power Adapter (or whatever it's called) sufficient for it (maybe with enough batteries for about an hour of backup power)?

2) The Zero-G Manouver Package gives no Base Dexterity; does a robot with only such a pack as locomotion really has to have a very low Dexterity?

3) Do Slave "robots" get the apparrent Dexterity/Intelligence modifier of their "Master" brain? and do they need any brain at all?

4) I'm trying to create a stationary Autodoc; that would be a stationary "robot" large enough to contain a Low Berth, but with Medical software, some decent intelligence and surgical instruments/arms. My question is: What is the volume of a Low Berth in Book 8 liter values? I know it's "weight" is 0.5 dton, but is that in displacement or mass "tons"?

5) Could you, please give me an estimate of how large is each Robot size, i.e. "trash-can sized" or "man-sized"? What does the "Human Torso" reference in Book 8 refer to? The Robot's torso, or the whole robot?

 

[Golan2072]

I've recently read through Book 8, and tried my hand in robot design and IMTU application. A few questions, however, did arrise:

1) Does a ship's immobile, dedicated pilot/navigator/whatever brain need a power plant of its own? or is a Power Adapter (or whatever it's called) sufficient for it (maybe with enough batteries for about an hour of backup power)?

2) The Zero-G Manouver Package gives no Base Dexterity; does a robot with only such a pack as locomotion really has to have a very low Dexterity?

3) Do Slave "robots" get the apparrent Dexterity/Intelligence modifier of their "Master" brain? and do they need any brain at all?

4) I'm trying to create a stationary Autodoc; that would be a stationary "robot" large enough to contain a Low Berth, but with Medical software, some decent intelligence and surgical instruments/arms. My question is: What is the volume of a Low Berth in Book 8 liter values? I know it's "weight" is 0.5 dton, but is that in displacement or mass "tons"?

5) Could you, please give me an estimate of how large is each Robot size, i.e. "trash-can sized" or "man-sized"? What does the "Human Torso" reference in Book 8 refer to? The Robot's torso, or the whole robot?

 

[tjoneslo]

These are my answers to your questions. I'll be happy to discuss them if you disagree.

1) No, an immobile robot does not need a power plant, a power adapter is sufficient. Though your suggestion for a battery backup is common practice.

2) Yes. Dexterity is a measure of how fast you can move, and the zero-g maneuver package is not for quick maneuvering.

3) Yes, no. That's the point of the "slave" package. But like the immobile robot, some people add a "backup" brain to enable safe shut down in case of accident of the master.

4) 1 dton = 13.5 (or 14) cubic meters = 13500 (or 14000) liters. 0.5 dtons = 6750 liters. "dton" is a measure of volume, and is distinguished from a unit of mass "ton".

5) Not having my book in front of me, I'm not sure. A trash can is usually about 20 liters, and most "man-sized" references I've seen are between a quarter and a half a cubic meter (250-500 liters).

 

[tjoneslo]

These are my answers to your questions. I'll be happy to discuss them if you disagree.

1) No, an immobile robot does not need a power plant, a power adapter is sufficient. Though your suggestion for a battery backup is common practice.

2) Yes. Dexterity is a measure of how fast you can move, and the zero-g maneuver package is not for quick maneuvering.

3) Yes, no. That's the point of the "slave" package. But like the immobile robot, some people add a "backup" brain to enable safe shut down in case of accident of the master.

4) 1 dton = 13.5 (or 14) cubic meters = 13500 (or 14000) liters. 0.5 dtons = 6750 liters. "dton" is a measure of volume, and is distinguished from a unit of mass "ton".

5) Not having my book in front of me, I'm not sure. A trash can is usually about 20 liters, and most "man-sized" references I've seen are between a quarter and a half a cubic meter (250-500 liters).

 

[aramis]

Pretty much agree with TJoneslo...

However: canonical LB's are about 1/4th dton of tube (on deckplans), and the rest is access space and extra equipment.

1/4th dton is 3500 L except in MT; In MT, it's 3375. Or, roughly, or roughly 2.3m x 1 x 1.5m... (2'''2'2" x 3'3"x 4'11")

some are actually shown smaller... most are shown as a 1/2 square vertical oval... hence 1/4th ton... Knock off about 5" (10cm) from the long measure for MT.

Oh, and I don't know what size trash can you were referring to. A 55 gallon drum is ROUGHLY 207L. a litre is about a 4"cube.

a "short" milk crate (10"x12"x15") is about 29L.

A 1 gallon milk jug is just shy of 4L...3.78

 

[aramis]

Pretty much agree with TJoneslo...

However: canonical LB's are about 1/4th dton of tube (on deckplans), and the rest is access space and extra equipment.

1/4th dton is 3500 L except in MT; In MT, it's 3375. Or, roughly, or roughly 2.3m x 1 x 1.5m... (2'''2'2" x 3'3"x 4'11")

some are actually shown smaller... most are shown as a 1/2 square vertical oval... hence 1/4th ton... Knock off about 5" (10cm) from the long measure for MT.

Oh, and I don't know what size trash can you were referring to. A 55 gallon drum is ROUGHLY 207L. a litre is about a 4"cube.

a "short" milk crate (10"x12"x15") is about 29L.

A 1 gallon milk jug is just shy of 4L...3.78

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Thread Ressurect!
OK, I am looking at designing a Hi-TL robot, and am having trouble with the stupid transmission requirement. What is the reasoning behind using all of the powerplant output as the basis for the size of the leg transmission? I could see if you used a portion of the weight to determine the size of the suspension and transmission.... But, using the power output makes absolutely NO sense, whatsoever.

Also, I plan on using the base power output as the determinant rather than the modified output (based on TL). Does that make sense? Is that how you have done it? (Otherwise, you wouldn't have any room for a TL15 #3 Fuel Cell because it would take all the room to handle the power (90kWh) in a typical torso-style chassis.)

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Thread Ressurect!
OK, I am looking at designing a Hi-TL robot, and am having trouble with the stupid transmission requirement. What is the reasoning behind using all of the powerplant output as the basis for the size of the leg transmission? I could see if you used a portion of the weight to determine the size of the suspension and transmission.... But, using the power output makes absolutely NO sense, whatsoever.

Also, I plan on using the base power output as the determinant rather than the modified output (based on TL). Does that make sense? Is that how you have done it? (Otherwise, you wouldn't have any room for a TL15 #3 Fuel Cell because it would take all the room to handle the power (90kWh) in a typical torso-style chassis.)

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Oh, and I am building this as a companion robot for a PC.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Oh, and I am building this as a companion robot for a PC.

 

[parmasson]

Keep in mind that I really fudge some of the requirements for a pseudobio.

That sounds like a bit more of rule based way of doing it. This is what I do for what it's worth.

1. I subtract 10% of the volume of trans and suspension for every TL above 12. Why? Because it is absurd to argue that robotic trans/susp technology does not change between TL12 and 15.
2. I cut the weight by a similar amount if you are using “light weight materials” to build a “light arm” with the reasoning that that your TL-12 industrial and mining robot will not be made out of the materials as the TL-15 pleasurebot Mk III

 

[parmasson]

Keep in mind that I really fudge some of the requirements for a pseudobio.

That sounds like a bit more of rule based way of doing it. This is what I do for what it's worth.

1. I subtract 10% of the volume of trans and suspension for every TL above 12. Why? Because it is absurd to argue that robotic trans/susp technology does not change between TL12 and 15.
2. I cut the weight by a similar amount if you are using “light weight materials” to build a “light arm” with the reasoning that that your TL-12 industrial and mining robot will not be made out of the materials as the TL-15 pleasurebot Mk III

 

[aramis]

Why use PP Output? So you can use all power for locomotion if you need to.

Transmissions sizes really should be a bivariant formula, but are not in traveller, working from both hull and PP.

You could, if you want, use less than max PP for figuring tranny size, but remember to use only that lesser ammount in figuring speeds....

 

[aramis]

Why use PP Output? So you can use all power for locomotion if you need to.

Transmissions sizes really should be a bivariant formula, but are not in traveller, working from both hull and PP.

You could, if you want, use less than max PP for figuring tranny size, but remember to use only that lesser ammount in figuring speeds....

 

[Hyphen]

Dear Folks -

Originally posted by Fritz88:
Thread Ressurect!
OK, I am looking at designing a Hi-TL robot, and am having trouble with the stupid transmission requirement.

OK, maybe I missed the problems over the power plant thing?

You may like to take a look at my fixes to robots, especially pseudo-bio and contoured 'bots.

Try Beowulf Down ==> Tavonni Repair Bays ==> House Rules ==> Reconciling Robots, Part I – Run, Robot, Run!

Especially section iv, "Deconstructing Robot Legs". I postulate that ordinary robots have external transmissions, while contoured/pseudobio have internal transmissions.

Does any of this help??

 

[Hyphen]

Dear Folks -

Originally posted by Fritz88:
Thread Ressurect!
OK, I am looking at designing a Hi-TL robot, and am having trouble with the stupid transmission requirement.

OK, maybe I missed the problems over the power plant thing?

You may like to take a look at my fixes to robots, especially pseudo-bio and contoured 'bots.

Try Beowulf Down ==> Tavonni Repair Bays ==> House Rules ==> Reconciling Robots, Part I – Run, Robot, Run!

Especially section iv, "Deconstructing Robot Legs". I postulate that ordinary robots have external transmissions, while contoured/pseudobio have internal transmissions.

Does any of this help??

 

[Fritz_Brown]

I can't get to your site, Hyphen!
Edit: Matter of fact, I can't find any website with your name on it! They all come up 404!

 

[Fritz_Brown]

I can't get to your site, Hyphen!
Edit: Matter of fact, I can't find any website with your name on it! They all come up 404!

 

[Golan2072]

Hyphen, the link to your page in your sig doesn't work.

 

[Golan2072]

Hyphen, the link to your page in your sig doesn't work.