Life Support for Robots

[Alverant]

What type of Life Support do Robots need? Before anyone says "Total with immortality" I want to bring up a few things.

 

1) Robots have mechanical parts that wear out. How long can you replace robot parts before it stops being the original robot? And are there any parts that can't be replaced?

 

2) Computers are air cooled. I don't think it matters what kind of air (apart from methane, propane, etc) but without it they overheat and stop working.

 

3) Computers have temperature ranges. If they get too hot or cold they break down.

 

4) Computers consume electricity and release heat.

 

5) Except for servers, computers need to shut down occasionally.

 

6) Computers on satilites need special equipment to function.

 

I know most of these relate to computers and not robots, but computers control robots so using them as a basis is valid. So what I suggest for Robotic Life Support:

 

Expanded Breathing (gaseous environment that can safely absorb heat) 5pts

Diminished Eating (consumes electricity) 2pts (3 if there's an END reserve)

Diminished Sleep 1-2 points of downtime (3 if meant to run continously)

Heat Tollerant 1 pt

Cold Tollerant 1 pt

Immune to disease and poison 20pts

Point Cost: 32 points

 

So with summons, followers, etc it's a saving of 18 points. Of course this is a base so if you want your computer/robot to work better you'll have to by more.

 

Comments?

[ghost-angel]

Re: Life Support for Robots

 

Whatever is appropriate to the game in question.

 

I would simply put on:

Does Not Eat

Does Not Breathe

Immunities (All)

 

to simulate a basic robot.

[Lucius]

Re: Life Support for Robots

 

I have made the point - more than once, and recently - that a robot does not HAVE to have the expensive "Full Life Support" power. In fact, almost every element of Life Support that is "routinely" assumed to be part of being a robot can be, at least, questioned.

 

Here's a link to the thread I started, What I Learned Playing a Robot

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44915&page=2&highlight=robot

 

And here are some illustrated examples of why a robot may not have Life Support:

 

http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff700/fv00636.htm

 

http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00863.htm

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary still thinks that for robots it should be called Tech Support.

[Kenn]

Re: Life Support for Robots

 

Diminished Eating (consumes electricity) 2pts (3 if there's an END reserve)

Diminished Sleep 1-2 points of downtime (3 if meant to run continously)

 

I think the consumption of electricity is better reflected through various powers and physical limitations. A robot doesn't eat food. It wouldn't affect the food stores.

 

Your robot should switch to Linux instead of DOS.

[jkwleisemann]

Re: Life Support for Robots

 

How much is required?

 

None. 0 points. Not even the immunities. Robots could be designed in such a way that modern viruses, even if not as nasty to them, can cause them harm.

 

How much is recommended?

 

At least the immunities, up to full.. Preferably some of the others; I prefer to see bits and pieces of the other "Does Not X" LS as well.

 

Robots can "eat" - they consume electricity, and you could always argue that they have a hyper-efficient (conversion-wise) fusion core that takes any organic material and makes it into energy, thus requiring that they do, indeed, eat. They may not reduce the food stores, but they do need to stop every once in a while to recharge, or they experience penalties.

 

Robots can "sleep" - they periodically have to shut down for a while, run a defrag and maintenance cycle, that sort of thing. Those with advanced AI's and subconscious minds need to run a simulated dream cycle every once in a while to clear their buffers and sort out what's short term data and what's long term data.

 

Robots can be vulnerable to various environments - they just aren't built up to the standard of "toss 'im out the airlock, he'll be fine!" that many superpowered bots are.

 

Robots can "age" - parts need maintenance, and eventually wear out. Eventually programming in the AI begins to get buggy and/or go insane.

 

So, like I said, any level. How much is required? Zilch-to-full.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Life Support for Robots

 

While I agree with the 'however much is appropriate to the concept', my 'bots tend to have the full-on 50, 'cause I'm a Transformers afficionado and, well, that certainly seems to be what they have.

[Sketchpad]

Re: Life Support for Robots

 

I think it depends on your robot ... are we talking something like Robot from Lost in Space? Or are we talking about something like Data? A stereotypical robot would have no breathing, immunity to disease and poison, safe in a few environments and no need for sleep or food. Something like C-3PO? Well, I would give him no breathing, the immunities and maybe safe in a few environments ... but cold seems to affect his joints and he requires energy and downtime (aka eating and food). It really depends on your definition

[Alverant]

Re: Life Support for Robots

 

While I agree with the 'however much is appropriate to the concept'' date=' my 'bots tend to have the full-on 50, 'cause I'm a Transformers afficionado and, well, that certainly seems to be what they have. [/quote']

 

But they need energon so they do need to eat. Use the points to buy Simulate Death as Status Lock.

[Alverant]

Re: Life Support for Robots

 

Part of the posts here talk about changing the "defaults". Just as fish have a default breathing environment, robots have a default food of electricity. So what we need to know is why LS costs what it costs. How easy is electricity to get in the campaign world? How easy is it to "poison"? How long can a robot function without fresh electricity? How does END Reserve factor into it?

 

I know all of this depends on how you build the robot. But I wanted to find out how the rest of you did it. This is one of the few times where NOT buying powers complicates the character. For example if a robot has to sleep and dream, then that has to be programmed into it. As a programmer by trade, I know that you don't add complicated features to a program unless it's necessary or you REALLY want to. Of course someone building a heroic robot would REALLY want to do it.

 

Though I'm not sure how being a robot can be vulurnable to biological diseases and poisons without being more cybernetic. But that's more of an issue about semantics.

[Whitewings]

Re: Life Support for Robots

 

For example if a robot has to sleep and dream' date=' then that has to be programmed into it. As a programmer by trade, I know that you don't add complicated features to a program unless it's necessary or you REALLY want to. Of course someone building a heroic robot would REALLY want to do it.[/quote']

 

Neural net computers require periods of random input to continue functioning correctly; this can be considered equivalent to a need for sleep, and is apparently an inherent limitations of such architectures.

[Lucius]

Re: Life Support for Robots

 

Part of the posts here talk about changing the "defaults". Just as fish have a default breathing environment, robots have a default food of electricity. So what we need to know is why LS costs what it costs. How easy is electricity to get in the campaign world? How easy is it to "poison"? How long can a robot function without fresh electricity? How does END Reserve factor into it?

 

I know all of this depends on how you build the robot. But I wanted to find out how the rest of you did it. This is one of the few times where NOT buying powers complicates the character. For example if a robot has to sleep and dream, then that has to be programmed into it. As a programmer by trade, I know that you don't add complicated features to a program unless it's necessary or you REALLY want to. Of course someone building a heroic robot would REALLY want to do it.

 

Though I'm not sure how being a robot can be vulurnable to biological diseases and poisons without being more cybernetic. But that's more of an issue about semantics.

 

Again, it's a question of default assumptions. See below.

 

(Crossposed from "What I Learned Playing a Robot" in Star Hero)

 

Just because you technically don't "eat" or "breathe" or "sleep" or even "get sick" does NOT mean that you need to take the full suite of Life Support Powers.

 

You don't eat, but you do need to input energy in some form, and even materiels (spare parts, perhaps.) Do you really need "Does not eat?"

 

Unless you were specifically designed for multiple environments, that does not mean you won't suffer deleterious effects if dropped into water, methane, a high pressure atmosphere, or vaccuum. Just because you don't "breathe" as such, doesn't mean you can't be deactivated or even destroyed if out of the environment you were designed for.

 

You don't "sleep" but you may need regular downtime for self-maintenance, internal computer diagnostics, and to correlate and properly assimilate the day's experiences into your memory banks.

 

Just because you're not organic, doesn't mean you can't catch a virus. Or a worm. Just because you can ignore some or most of the things that poison a Human, doesn't mean there aren't substances that will do you serious damage. Instead of taking a broad-based immunity, ask if you can be assumed to be vulnerable to different things - the way a fish doesn't need "life support" to breathe water, it just has a different "default" environment.

 

Just because you don't feel "pain" (trust me, you're not missing anything) doesn't mean you should have Takes No Stun. If you get hit by a lightning bolt, it's still a shocking experience. You can be "stunned" just as effectively as if you felt pain, and you can be rendered temporarily inoperable as readily as a Human can be rendered unconscious - and they are the same thing mechanically (pardon the expression.)

 

Parts wear out. Quantum effects and background radiation eventually degrade even shielded positronic brains. Even personality programs that are repeatedly uploaded to new bodies become corrupt over time. Check out your warranty. Odds are, you DON'T really have "Immunity to Aging."

 

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Things I learned riding a palindromedary

[nexus]

Re: Life Support for Robots

 

Several fictional sources depict advanced artifical intelligences as needing something similar to "sleep" and "dreaming" * (down with some random data and input) to function properly, not much but some. Apparently this isn't as far fetched given current research in the field. My robotic PC "Eve" has to effectively sleep a few hours a week.