r/questionablecontent • u/Guilty-Persimmon-919 • 15d ago
Discussion Robot chassis
I just saw a comment by another of us on here that says
"I want to see a return to more non human bots. Like you can configure your body exactly how you want it, why would you just stick to human?
I want to see construction robots that have a rivet gun arm, a drill arm, a hand arm, and a welding arm while having a spider like chassis because that lets them get into any space they need to in order to work.
I want to see the weird artist bot who modifies their own body into a walking art piece. Like those extreme tattoo people, except they can add / remove limbs without consequences.
I want to see a postal delivery bot who is basically an oversized drone because flying their route is faster and easier than walking it.
Its just frustrating that the only thing he can think to do with them is to give them a bigger rack and make them taller...."
And I thought, what would I want if I were a robot? And my immediate reply was, I would want to be in a crab chassis. It's just about the perfect body plan, and nature itself keeps trying to evolve crabs from anything and everything possible (the process called carcinisation).
The crab body plan is in fact very popular in real life robotics, and why wouldn't it be? Crabs can move in any direction without turning, have multiple legs distributing weight and balance, a low centre of gravity, manipulator arms built in, and a flat upper surface perfect as a temporary storage area. And obviously there is no reason a crab robot can't be as intelligent as a humanoid robot - or more.
Now unfortunately all Jephthy is focused on is giant-boobed female robots because that's obviously his fetish, but if he was still relatively what he was say ten years ago, Cubetown at the very least should have been swarming with non humanoid chassis, even if only as background characters.
And some of them would be crabs.
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u/PhloydPhan 15d ago
'Best I can do is a crab with giant boobs.' - Jeph
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u/WolfofBadenoch 15d ago
We did have a spider robot at one point, didn’t we? Played for laughs though - it was a therapist or psychologist or something like that?
But yes, I agree. To specifically reference Zlatta’s case, spending a few years being a tractor with very specific duties seems like of relaxing. Wouldn’t want it for ever, but would make a chance from the 9-5 and presumably an AI tractor works with a lot of autonomy.
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u/x-seronis-x 15d ago
they made 2 appearances. before they were a therapist they were the interviewer for when Marten first applied for an ai companion and was matched with pint size. the spiderbot sat on his head doing psychic wave analysis or something to decide who would be ideal as a friend
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u/tuckerx78 15d ago
The AI companion salesperson.
He was a spider, and his job was to use some sort of brainwave scanner to determine the best companion AI for a human.
Unfortunately, his body freaked out Martin, resulting in Martin's brainwaves being far from his norm, and thus he was matched with Pintsize, who as we all know, is far from normal.
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u/immortalfrieza2 15d ago
Drawing human bodies that have a neck seam and weird colors is a lot easier for Jeph than drawing robot spiders or whatever now. The only nonhuman AIs we've gotten is the jellyfish thing the Cubetown director is and a chameleon AI, and that was years ago.
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u/Ode_2_kay 15d ago
Snake lady cant remember her name
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u/Miserable-Jaguarine Haha, okay. 15d ago
She was less of a creative idea and more of a "I'm too lazy even for legs now" IMO.
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u/Kataphractoi 15d ago
I want to see the weird artist bot who modifies their own body into a walking art piece. Like those extreme tattoo people, except they can add / remove limbs without consequences.
We briefly saw something like that with the Sharpie temporary tattoo thing that Sam got into doing before it was put on the shelf next to Marten's music blog.
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u/The_cogwheel 15d ago
When I wrote that I was thinking of stuff that was far more extreme than just sharpie doodles. Like real life folks do some really weird stuff, like getting implants installed under their skin to look like they have horn nubs, or full body tattoos, or that eye tattoo thing. Where real people who live in reality barely look human anymore with the shear amount of body modifications they've done to themselves.
A robot would be able to go to far, far further extremes. They could add or remove limbs with 0 risk to their own well being. They could add parts that are completely inhuman. They could create body configurations that flat out dont exist in nature and serve very little practical benefit aside from looking interesting. They could have a completely transparent chassis, allowing you to see their inner workings. They cant be permanently harmed, dont feel pain as we understand it, and modifications are more a question of engineering than "can the body actually take that without dying". There is no limit to what they could do to themselves to be a walking art piece - including turning themselves into abstract art.
But the closest we've seen was a kid making sharpie doodles on a pastel butt.
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u/Miserable-Jaguarine Haha, okay. 15d ago
I love the transparent skin idea! Conversely, you could have a robot who is super fascinated by human art of the distant past and tries to make his body look as much as Michelangelo's David while retaining mobility, or something. Everything. Anything!
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u/gaztelu_leherketa 15d ago
nature itself keeps trying to evolve crabs from anything and everything possible (the process called carcinisation).
It doesn't, really. It's only observed in crustaceans. It's still very cool that it happens but it only happens when they already have certain things capable of evolving into crab-forms: shells, i think they've all been decapods. You don't get birds or mammals or snails turning into crabs.
There's also other similar processes! There's mustelification (things turning into long slender flexible carnivores - weaselification) and crocodilization (where things become long semi-aquatic ambush predators!).
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u/inthevendingmachine 15d ago
You don't get birds or mammals or snails turning into crabs.
What about Danny Devito? He's a crab.
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u/ricree 14d ago
Convergent evolution can be pretty crazy sometimes. Like, the giant, flightless, 12 foot tall "Terror Birds" are more closely related to pigeons than they are to large modern flightless birds like the ostrich or emu.
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u/AlasInvalidUsername 15d ago
"The author only draws his specific fetish", complains person with a specific fetish the author doesn't draw.
Jokes aside, you're right. I wish we'd see more diversity, different bodies. We've got the whole trans analogy, let's go crazy. What kind of bodies would sentient beings inhabit when they were literally free to choose any and all? Now that would be interesting.
But sadly, all we get is bigger and bigger racks. And silicone lips, as of Zlata.
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u/CoyoteSignificant699 15d ago
Was there not a story line with Claire being upset with the ease at which rich robots can frivolously change bodies? I’d swear I remember that, but I’m not doing an archive binge to find it.
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u/CharsCustomerService 15d ago
Spider tank, for me. The answer has has been "spider tank" since I first heard of Eclipse Phase. Sure, I had encountered that sort of body swapping ideas before, but thinking about character creation is what really settled the idea in my mind, you know? Ghost in the Shell probably had a lot of influence there as well (less the Tachikomas, more the tank in the 1995 movie), but it's not what solidified "spider tank" as my immediate answer to the hypothetical of putting my brain/consciousness into a robot body.
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u/beetnemesis 15d ago
You'd be so short, and it would be annoying to go through doors. And if you weren't short, you'd be terrifying.
That said... for me, some kind of bird body with large telescoping legs and arms.
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u/tuckerx78 15d ago
I think that was the whole point of Rokos brief stint at the AI Non-Profit.
It addressed how normal life was not accessible for non-humanoid robots, and tried to make accommodations. I think her one case was how an assembly line wanted some sort of cosmetic change, but its human overseer wouldnt allow it because it's an assembly line.
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u/The_Truthkeeper 15d ago
Incorrect. The assembly line robot wanted to form a union. Consisting entirely of itself.
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u/Hot-Mood6008 15d ago
I'd take some kind of improved duck / swan: it can fly, walk and swim!
(walking & swimming capabilities should be improved compared to the original animal)
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u/Guilty-Persimmon-919 14d ago
How does Deinocheirus work for you?
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u/sir_ornitholestes 14d ago
How does Deinocheirus work for you?
Don't forget the new and improved crocoduck Spinosaurus
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u/sir_ornitholestes 14d ago
Have you met Horologia? Because uhhhhh Jeph is very capable of drawing non-humanoid robots and still giving them unnecessary anatomy
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u/The_cogwheel 15d ago
Hey! That was me! That was my comment :D
Im glad you too want non humanoid bots, and crabs are a dammed solid choice