Wednesday, April 23, 2003
Why robots will need bathrooms
I've realized that in the future, there will be three bathrooms - one for women, one for men, and one for robots. Why robots? Aren't they supposed to be clean, running on electricity and maintained like power tools? However, considering what robots will be like in just a few years - especially humanoid ones - strongly points to robots that crap, as well as jump.
Why robots will go pee-pee
In the future, most robots will be powered by fuel cells rather than batteries. This is because fuel cells will allow operation 2-5 times longer than the best batteries. In addition, a fuel cell can be quickly recharged. For fuel cells using alcohol, it is easy to imagine the robot opening a bottle of methanol and taking a few pulls to recharge. Ethanol would be even more fun. Imagine a team of humanoid robots working, stopping every once in a while to chug empty bottles of Everclear or Stoli!
But the end product of these fuel cells is water. The waste water will accumulate and something will have to be done with it. One possibility is that the water will evaporate, or even come out as steam. If this is the case, robots will quite literally resemble the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz. In the 1939 movie the character dances and suddenly puffs smoke. This circa 1900 image of mechanical intelligence is far closer to the truth than we ever imagined.
The other possibility is that the wastewater will be released as liquid. In this case, the robot will have to eliminate the water via an opening in its body. One can imagine a simple hole, faucet, or a long tube plugged into a receptacle. In all cases, this elimination will look disturbingly like urination, particularly for humanoid models. Most likely, the robot will retire to perform this function out of human sight.
Why robots will go poo-poo
If peepee isn't enough, consider solid matter. While robots will most likely use liquid fuel in their fuel cells, this doesn't mean that everything else will operate cleanly. An operating robot will accumulate dust and dirt internally, and will require constant internal cleaning to stay functional. Most likely, this will be done by tini "milli-bots" - ladybug-sized robots that crawl through the big robot and police up debris. Even if the robot body is sealed, there will be some waste from parts rubbing together, as well as old lubricant for the milli-bots to consume.
During regular robot operation, the milli-bots will be constantly cleaning and maintaining the robot's innards. Most likely they will take collected waste to a central location in the robot's body, where it will be pressed together to avoid it from getting spread around again. Water from the fuel cell may be used in cleaning by the millibots, and the resulting wet sludge would be added to the pile. After a while, a turd-like bolus will be formed. The robot will have to get rid of it somehow. Once again, an opening in the robot body is likely. This might be hidden (imagine the impact of a visible hole on humans), but the robo-turdhole will be there, and people will likely be uncomfortable seeing a robot grab a turd-sized object from inside itself. Like robot pee, robot turds will be eliminated in private.
Some robots may make even bigger turds. The experiments with "gastrobots" show that fuel cells can be powered by biological material, e.g., ground up slugs from the garden. So robots may actually eat human food, digest it, and use it for power. If they do the the residue will be considerable, and will need to be eliminated more frequently.
Why a robo-restroom will be desirable
So there's ample reason to believe that robots will create waste products from their bodies that somewhat resemble human ones. Robots already will remind people of themselves by their lifelike movements and ability to interact with their environment. Adding in robo-pee and robo-poo will heighten the uncomfortable feeling among people about their own bodily functions. But nobody will want a robot using the human johns. So something special will be created for them.
The private places where robots relieve themselves will probably be called "maintenance depots" or some such thing, but simplicity of redundant plumbing will ultimately make it into a third restroom, right next to the human ones.
I've realized that in the future, there will be three bathrooms - one for women, one for men, and one for robots. Why robots? Aren't they supposed to be clean, running on electricity and maintained like power tools? However, considering what robots will be like in just a few years - especially humanoid ones - strongly points to robots that crap, as well as jump.
Why robots will go pee-pee
In the future, most robots will be powered by fuel cells rather than batteries. This is because fuel cells will allow operation 2-5 times longer than the best batteries. In addition, a fuel cell can be quickly recharged. For fuel cells using alcohol, it is easy to imagine the robot opening a bottle of methanol and taking a few pulls to recharge. Ethanol would be even more fun. Imagine a team of humanoid robots working, stopping every once in a while to chug empty bottles of Everclear or Stoli!
But the end product of these fuel cells is water. The waste water will accumulate and something will have to be done with it. One possibility is that the water will evaporate, or even come out as steam. If this is the case, robots will quite literally resemble the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz. In the 1939 movie the character dances and suddenly puffs smoke. This circa 1900 image of mechanical intelligence is far closer to the truth than we ever imagined.
The other possibility is that the wastewater will be released as liquid. In this case, the robot will have to eliminate the water via an opening in its body. One can imagine a simple hole, faucet, or a long tube plugged into a receptacle. In all cases, this elimination will look disturbingly like urination, particularly for humanoid models. Most likely, the robot will retire to perform this function out of human sight.
Why robots will go poo-poo
If peepee isn't enough, consider solid matter. While robots will most likely use liquid fuel in their fuel cells, this doesn't mean that everything else will operate cleanly. An operating robot will accumulate dust and dirt internally, and will require constant internal cleaning to stay functional. Most likely, this will be done by tini "milli-bots" - ladybug-sized robots that crawl through the big robot and police up debris. Even if the robot body is sealed, there will be some waste from parts rubbing together, as well as old lubricant for the milli-bots to consume.
During regular robot operation, the milli-bots will be constantly cleaning and maintaining the robot's innards. Most likely they will take collected waste to a central location in the robot's body, where it will be pressed together to avoid it from getting spread around again. Water from the fuel cell may be used in cleaning by the millibots, and the resulting wet sludge would be added to the pile. After a while, a turd-like bolus will be formed. The robot will have to get rid of it somehow. Once again, an opening in the robot body is likely. This might be hidden (imagine the impact of a visible hole on humans), but the robo-turdhole will be there, and people will likely be uncomfortable seeing a robot grab a turd-sized object from inside itself. Like robot pee, robot turds will be eliminated in private.
Some robots may make even bigger turds. The experiments with "gastrobots" show that fuel cells can be powered by biological material, e.g., ground up slugs from the garden. So robots may actually eat human food, digest it, and use it for power. If they do the the residue will be considerable, and will need to be eliminated more frequently.
Why a robo-restroom will be desirable
So there's ample reason to believe that robots will create waste products from their bodies that somewhat resemble human ones. Robots already will remind people of themselves by their lifelike movements and ability to interact with their environment. Adding in robo-pee and robo-poo will heighten the uncomfortable feeling among people about their own bodily functions. But nobody will want a robot using the human johns. So something special will be created for them.
The private places where robots relieve themselves will probably be called "maintenance depots" or some such thing, but simplicity of redundant plumbing will ultimately make it into a third restroom, right next to the human ones.
Monday, April 21, 2003
This area of plyojump contains opinions, news, commentary, and essays on the development of robots that can jump, and ultimately work out in an aerobics class.
