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Banryu, Robot Or Dragon?
Roland Piquepaille writes "When Yoichi Takamoto, president of the small Japanese company Tmsuk, decided to build a robotic guard for your house, he was not able to use the familiar design of a dog. The idea was already taken by Sony, with its successful Aibo. Instead, he decided to develop the Banryu (or "guard dragon") robots. After all, nobody has ever seen a real dragon. So he was free to design it as he wished. The result is a scary robot which is 90 centimeters tall, weighs 35 kilograms, has more than 50 built-in sensors and can transmit an alarm to its master's cell phone if someone tries to invade the house. It doesn't come cheap. The price is about $18,000, but you can choose between five colors. The Asahi Shimbun tells us the story, while this overview includes several pictures of the frightening dragon." This is scary?
The price is about $18,000, but you can choose between five colors.
Oh, 5 colors! That explains it.
Buckethead
I for one welcome our new robotic draconic overlords!
"There is no teacher but the enemy."-Mazer Rackham
"This is scary"
I don't know about you but the price scared me plenty.
I've said it before (just as recently as the Movieoke post a day or two ago, where it seems like we're a hairsbreadth from the 'ractives featured in The Diamond Age. This seems to be a hairsbreadth from Fido in Snow Crash. I think I will have to reread everything to see if I can't spot the next trend. The unfortunate thing is that he's been so prolific with ideas that it's like looking for a needle in a haystack!
Where are the wings? I thought something looked strange about it, it would look a lot better with wings.
Buckethead
dragon? Don't they mean cow? Seriously now, does this resemble a dragon more or a cow?
and it needs a flamethrower.
sure, i could see that being scary. if it had built in blow torches...and were 9 feet tall.
...I saw one of its parents in a Godzilla movie.
BURNINATING THE ROBBERS!!
Hey, it might be frightening if you were a little person.
:-P
Or a baby.
But I don't see the "dragon" resemblance...looks more to me like the robot from Lost in Space paired with 4 spider legs and a...well...I'll leave you to decide what the small, skinny, football shaped thing in the front is.
I guess it is supposed to be a head. Now, isn't that an interesting coincidence...
Even with 50 sensors and a system to read and process the data, how do they come up with $18,000? If it could walk up stairs, right itself, etc, I might understand, but it doesn't look that way. I can cobble together a PC, appropriate sensor receivers (BTW, what do they need 50 sensors for? Every joint?), and some software for a heck of a lot less than that. It wouldn't look as cool, but it would do the same thing.
Just imagine a beowulf cluster of these. Just like the DnD movie! *schivers* I can't believe I watched that horrible movie...
"There is no teacher but the enemy."-Mazer Rackham
it looks more like an overweight aibo or one horribly mutated in some evil experiment
scary as an IKEA toaster! Aaaaaaaah!
anybody else think this thing looks like an ibook sprouted legs and a head, at least in the white version? :)
-- vranash
Why even have one? If someone was going to rob you, why not just grab that thing and run? That thing costs more than my car. What's it goint to do, call its master?
Buy a gun.
This is scary?
This is a dragon?
...said the designer when he was asked "WTF IS THAT!?"/p?
Just me, or do they kinda look like the tachikomas in Ghost in the shell.
In the dark....and you with nothing but a dull knife to threaten the opposition, this thing can light up like Fire Island on nitro, and you will want to be anywhere else but in the same room.
Hmm.. at $18,000 I think any burglar who gets caught by the dragon will thank his lucky stars and steal it.
Choose between:
60, 90, and 120 hit points!
Your choice of virgin damsels!
Comes in varied alignments!
Speaks Common, Japanese, Digital, and Draconic!
All for a mere 18,000 Gold Pieces!
Let's see what would scare people in my neck of the woods (NYC East New York to be exact)... Mr. Roboto or Mr. Glocko
MoFscker
Eighteen grand for a humidifier with legs? I've seen scarier Legos.
It looks like a Guard Turtle to me. *shrug*
RaGe
We're all just noise on the wires..
This is scary?
... I think the Japanese must have been much braver back in the days of old.
Hmm
Perhaps WWII scarred them more deeply than anyone imagined.
I dunno, it didn't remind me of a dragon in the least. It looked a lot more like a dog.
It did remind me a little bit of the hexapod tank from Ghost in the Shell, though, which means that the way to counter this sucker is to use your "standard big-ass gun".
This guy has the technology to make robots, and the most useful application he could think of was a "dragon" to guard your home? When are they going to come out with things we actually care about, like virtual sex androids? I think there would be a huge market for those babies.
http://www.polykarbon.com/gallery/fuchikoma.htm
:)
What I'd like to see are the
Kusanagi-like
booth girls
A robotic stallion meant to please mares while you're not there and keep them aroused if you're going there.
Wow, that sure beats the heck out of a couple webcams and some sensons for Radio Shack.
Of wait, no it doesnt. It's just stupid looking, and you can SEE it, which kinda goes against the concept of hiding the security system...
Get a dog.
- Adam L. Beberg - The Cosm Project - http://www.mithral.com/
Oh god..nachos through the nose and all over the screen.
He produced an animated movie titled Rojin Z (early 90s IIRC), about a robotic "sick bed" that would be commited to the elderly as caregivers. In essense that seems to be the pattern forming.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/2004/03/06.html
http://www.groklaw.net/
Just compare and tell who stole whose webdesign, or maybe which template does it come from?
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
damn I'm dumb
MoFscker
Considering that the word Dragon in Japan is Ryu, which is also used in reference to Dinosaurs. In Asia, the words for dinosaurs are also dragon. It makes much more sense that the ryu used in this case is referring the robot as a dinosaur, not a dragon.
Besides, it looks like a Stegosaurus to me.
"he was not able to use the familiar design of a dog. The idea was already taken by Sony, with its successful Aibo."
Does this mean that noone is ever going to be able to make a robot dog ever again (apart from with permission of and payment to Sony)??
Or was he just concerned that the public would see it as an aibo lookalike?
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
in the shape of Trogdor.
"Trespassers will be burninated!"
I mean, I'd buy it...
http://www.sanyo.co.jp/koho/hypertext4-eng/0211new s-e/1106-e.html
Of course, *this* is my idea of a real guard robot:
http://www.robosaurus.com/inaction.html
Flout 'em and scout 'em,
and scout 'em and flout 'em;
Thought is free. - Shakespeare [The Tempest]
Robots were cool. They were either really smart tins on wheels (R2D2) that shot a lightsaber your way in times of need, golden droids that looked like a person (C3P0) and could speak 3 billion dialects, or huge kick ass killing machines with gatling guns (ED209). In short, robots were cool and I wanted one.
However, this story has me convinced that all we're gonna end up with is fscking Muffet from Galactica... Thanks Far Eastern robot wizard dudes... Thanks very much!
Look at the flash slideshow and see for yourself...
clicky
Is this a case of engrish? Looking at some of the pictures in the flash animation, the text on the machine seems to be Banryu Neo Dinosaur. Or something very close to it.
Does everything include nothing?
Shit, you could wire a whole house with sensors and cameras for that kind of money. Hell, you could wire TWO whole houses, or MORE.
Haven't read Stephenson, but the first thing that came to mind when I saw this thing was The Hound from Fahrenheit 451...all spiderlike and venomous. All it needs is a 4 inch needle proboscis to deliver the lethal dose of morphine.
What's scary to me is the belief that Sony somehow owns the idea of robot dogs, just because they built one.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
OK, these people need lessons in designing killer robots. Three points:
1) Sharp jagged edges. This thing looks like it could safely be left with a kid.
2) Metal. Plastic is not useful for scaring people.
3) Red glowing parts. 'Nuff said.
Compare the cost for this with a series of security cameras, which have metal, sharp edges, and red glowing parts if you go with the right vendor.
and can transmit an alarm to its master's cell phone if someone tries to invade the house. It doesn't come cheap. The price is about $18,000
/crc
In which case, I predict the sudden creation of a second-hand black market for $18,000 "home security" robots. If $18,000 worth of mobile electronics isn't an incentive to break in - I'm not sure what is.
I don't condone theft (so don't do this), but stealing one of these devices would be so easy that it's silly. So imagine this as a science-fiction short story that's actually a non-fiction possibility today:
You'd need two people, face masks, duct-tape, a big foil-lined cardboard box, a screwdriver and an SUV or van with a blacked-out (and possibly foil-lined) interior.
(1) Don masks, break in, find robot.
(2) Place duct-tape on robot's camera.
(2) Stuff robot into foil-lined box (silencing any possible radio transmissions).
(3) Place box in back of van.
(4) While 1 person drives, 2nd person removes the robot's battery.
(5) Wipe robot's memory.
(6) Profit from selling robot, or (if you broke it in the abduction), several thousand $ worth of robot parts.
For best effect, wear service uniforms so you look like you're technicians who were due to service the malfunctioning robot if you get stopped while carrying it away.
Note that I'm not actually sure how much dampening thin foil will have on radio transmissions - but it's the thought that counts.
"Run away, intruder, or I shall gum you to death!"
:-)
Suggestion for rev 2.0: fangs and claws are much more visually impressive than smoothly rounded corners.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
For $18,000 it should be able to breathe fire and bring burnination to any intruders!
Jesus saves souls and redeems them for valuable cash prizes
telemarketer: Hi, I'm calling from ADC Home Security systems, how are you today, Mr. Hood?
me: Not to good.
telemarketer: Excellent, We are calling because we giving a way 20 free robotic house-gaurding dragons to people in your neighborhood and you have been selected to receive one. This dragon, an $18,000 value, will guard your home when your gone, perform CPR if you choke, or call the police if there's a fire. Plus, it comes in your choice of five colors. This is yours for free when you sign up for our $2995 a month service and monitoring plan for five years. That's less than a hundred dollars a day.
me: That's not free.
telemarketer: Yes, but surely you can't put a price on your family's safety.
me: I wouldn't have thought so either, but here we are.
telemarketer: But this robotic dragon is the greatest technological marvel since the beginning of time. It also can scorch intruders into charcoal and catch you if you fall down the stairs. Is there any reason you aren't interested?
me: I already have a security system, actually.
telemarketer: May I ask what brand?
me: It's a hedge maze in the front yard.
telemarketer: Really, does it work?
me: I haven't seen the mailman in a while, so I guess so.
telemarketer: Hmmm. *click*
Unknown host pong.
This is the same company that developed "Enryu" which was mentioned on /. a while back:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/11/141524 5&mode=thread
Sure no one has seen a dragon. But common folklore suggest that they had wings. This thing looks like a turtle. Ooh Scary, this house is protected by a robotic turtle. Oooh!
Considering most robberies take place in under two minutes, I would just kick it onto its back or maybe just take it with me!!!! My own robot turtle accomplice in crime !!!!
STUPID.
Ghost in the Shell, SAC? Just a little bit?
If I get asked to fix one more windows install, I'm gonna loose it
What we need is a Unicorn robot. The first really effective sexbot, and you can design it "however you wish" because nobody's seen it.
The Japanese are just a wierd-ass people.
Thats got to be the worst dragon I have ever seen. and for 18k? I would hardly say that people don't know what a dragon 'looks' like. There are many pictures/representations of what people perceive dragons to look like, and I would hazard a guess that a class of 5year olds could come up with a more 'realistic' design. The Mark Tilden guy that had the $100 dollar robots, now they were good. and they could run and wouldnt fall over etc. Now get a few of them hooked up with sensors and you would have a decent house guard, and I bet it would come under $200
If at first you DON'T succeed, Skydiving is NOT for YOU!!
I'd rather have a sexy fembot guardian. She could seduce the intruder to death (no lawsuits for excessive force here), and be useful the rest of the time as well.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
And disgusted that the xenophobic Japanese trust robots over Philippine and Thai house guards to not maraud their homes.
the thing better incapacitate the crooks, or at least have some firepower. And I want something that clean up the mess afterwards.
30% Troll, 50% Underrated, 10% Interesting
Score:5, Troll
It's notta dragon, it's notta dinosaur... it's a Banryu Neo Dinosaur!
'cuz, you know, Neo Tokyo is all the rage...
$18,000 and the robot doesn't even have a flame thrower. Aren't dragons supposed to breath fire? I mean come on!
Even if they have patented a "robot dog", the BBC would have something to say about it.
Specifically: K9, the robot dog, in the 50-year old sci-fi series "Dr. Who".
So how long before it has its own anime series?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Sanyo Announces "Banryu" Home Security Robot
On November 13th, 2002 with 205 comments
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
If some courageous (not to mention rich) modder obtain one of these Banryu, they could have their very own AT-AT Walker to play with their Kenner Star Wars action figures.
Mmmmh, Mini AT-AT Walker.
Dragons do *not* have 4 legs. Any McCaffrey fan should be shuddering.
Ah to hell with the dogs, I want a Reason! :)
668.5
"The price is about $18,000, but you can choose between five colors."
This has to be the most absurd thing I've heard all year (yeah, all three months, ha ha). What possible connection does being expensive have to do with coming in five colors?
Honestly, it's on par with The Simpsons' "Beware! It carries a terrible curse! But it comes with a free frozen yogurt, which I call frogurt"
http://www.chmodoplusr.com/
To disarm it, just throw lots of water on it. "Bow Wow Bo....zzzzzzt!"
A more cost-effective solution would be to put video cameras all over your yard. An intrusion detector could set off your pager/phone and you could log in on the web at work to look around.
Table-ized A.I.
Honestly, what good is an expensive guard robot that just alerts you? If I spent tens of thousands on a robot to protect my house from intruders, I want it to be able to tear any woodbee burglars to shreds.
You guys never paid me back, dammit! I wan't my fricken money! Hope you choke on a penis enlarger, Mr. Mayoka.
These dragons look a lot like the tachioma (spelling?) from Ghost in the Shell; one can be seen flanking the major here
This robot reminds me an awful lot of the design of the ORGA 'bots in the anime Gilgamesh (still running and unlicensed, grab a fansub at your favorite torrent site). I can't find a picture of them (behind a filter, so I can't use Google Image Search), but they're more or less the same as the robot, but with a No-mask like face. Also, they're actually genetically engineered humans underneath the robot-like shell, a la Evangelion, so anyone who buys these "dragons" should be aware of the potential human rights abuses :) .
--- Bwah?
I mean, really. Someone breaks into your house and hears this:
....
"FREEZE INTRUDER! Do not move while this autonomous robotic guard unit apprehends you."
whirr... thunk. whirr... thunk. whirr... thunk.
"This guard unit has commanded you to FREEZE!"
whirr... thunk. whirr... thunk. whirr... thunk.
"Hey, damnit, stop, I'm trying to... who the fuck left this stick in the middle of the room?"
thunk. thunk. thunk. thunk. whirr... thunk. whirr... thunk.
"Wait! aww, c'mon... "
whirr... whirr...
"Shit."
---
Quite a long ways off from that bitchin' mecha-thing from Robocop, neh?
s'wut i sed.
Well, as you say really the thing only costs about $500 in parts. But part of what makes it scary, AND a dragon, is the fiery breath - after extensive research it was found that the most efficient fuel source for said breath is $100 bills. So it comes equipped with about $17.5k of ammo to use for fiery ruination for would-be interlopers.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Nitpick: It's Asahi ShiNbun.
There is no stand alone M in Japanese.
Then again, if you think mobile, electronically communicating Tupperware is scary ...
Laws affecting technology will always be bad until enough techies become lawyers.
And I submitted a Banryu story 11/06/2002. (There may have been an accepted article about it as well.) Here's a link to Dino-robot promises mobile assistance from 13th November 2002. "They plan to begin selling it in Japan by the end of next year." Hmm.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
The japanese corps are giving a free pass to research engineers. Just come up with any crazy idea and we will get it out on the market.
---- Berlin Brown http://www.newspiritcompany.
Crouching Robot - Hidden Dragon, anyone?
Hostes alienigieni me abduxerunt. Qui annus est?
Considering that the English lettering on the side (not visible unless you find the Flash movie of the thing) says "Neo-Dinosaur," I'd say you're right. Nice "Japanese fact of the day," by the way.
That should freak out any possible thief/home intruder/terrorist.
Now you don't need to break in the house to steal $18,000's worth.
I can think of better things to deter thieves than $18,000 portable objects. Unless they came equipped with weaponry. Then I could think of better things to make me feel safe in my home.
For great justice.
How many intruders does it have to eat to achieve Burnination?
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
But can we mount a "laser" on its nose? Come on, people, what good is a robot guard without a laser?
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
...unless it can run wicked fast. Then maybe I'd be scared.
Dragons did, possibly still do exist.
There have been plenty of credible reports documenting them down through the ages, including some which go into enough consisent detail to rule that some of them did indeed have unusually hot breath (if not up to the standards of (e.g.) Shrek's donkey's newfound romantic interest). Some could fly, some could not, but I somehow doubt that the fliers did it with vestigial/token wings like the ones depicted on said romantic interest.
Since very few of the dinosaurs proper had any soft parts preserved (but do take the time to wonder a lot about the ones that were, supposedly over a span of 60+ million years - I want a patent on that preservation process), there is plenty of scope for hereinbefore unexpected biological processes.
Some cultures don't call them dragons. Think about AmerIndian "ThunderBird" legends and so on as well.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Ya know if you epoxy a Billy bass fish (thats been hacked to say BOO !) to a Rhoomba you'd have the same damn thing?
"It's so convenient to have a system where everyone is a criminal" - A. Hitler
That thing looks like a first generation tachicoma from Ghost in the shell. All is that it need now is to talk like a twelve year old Japanese girl.
Mr. Batu?AIIIEE!HAI!
It's all Politics
Hey, it doesn't matter how big it is, or what it looks like...if you're a burglar, and something spits flame at you, running is the first thing that comes to mind.
It doesn't spit flame?
Okay, yeah, it sucks. The flame-spitting version might be worth the cash, though.
-----------------------
You are what you think.
It seems to me most of the commenters so far posted seem to laugh at or are purplexed by this "house guard." What they seem to not understand is what all these robot technology is ultimately supposed to do: replace people in menial labor.
They are making small steps to make robots a practical consumer device--pets, house guards, robot vacuum cleaners, small child-like assistants for the elderly (Honda). Eventually they will do more, but the basic technology has to be perfected, and market developed.
Sure, the robots seem hopelessly useless now, but what they (the japanese) invision is a future where these things will be common place as the VCR. And *they* want to be the ones making and selling them.
Remember when automobiles were first being invented, most people that they could never replace the horse carriage.
In Soviet Russia, articles before post read *you*!
He was a robot. I mean, he was a dragon robot. Or maybe he was just a dragon.
If i was in japan and i saw that thing and realized it was worth $18,000, I'd just steal THAT instead!
But honestly, it isn't the most conspicious alarm system I've seen... and it really looks quite ugly.
Specifically the camera dome on its back.
Miniature Robotic Guard Dromedary, anyone?
Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!
G. M. Manath
Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both 'Yes' and 'No.'
Well, I don't know about dragons, but your post is strong evidence that trolls definitely still exist. They've just learned to use the Internet.
So true.
K9 is *way* better. I mean, sure he can be knocked on his side more easily than this thing can, but at least he's got a decent lasergun in his nose.
Furry cows moo and decompress.
I think this calls for some burnination! And where's the big beefy arm?
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
Bah, give me one of those Sentries from Deus Ex. Man, they're tough to kill unless you have a heavy weapon, or unless you can hack the drone guns to attack their own side.
I'm pretty sure that in japan a dragon isn't anything like what a dragon looks like in the non asian countries. In america a dragon traditionally looks very big (tall), fat, with some giant wings. I'm pretty sure a japanese dragon is long, skinny, with small or no wings. Now this looks nothing like either dragon, but try not to confuse your idea of what a dragon looks like with what the designer of this thing thinks a dragon looks like.
Also, I read this from one of the articles
``We expect to have it operational this year. We're also in the process of developing, with Waseda University, a robot that can walk on two legs with a person riding on its back. Once that becomes a reality, it'll be able to help out in hospitals and homes for the elderly.''
Have you ever rode on a persons back? It requires a bit of strength (to hold on) how would this help out in hospitals and homes for the elderly unless it could hold the person? Wouldn't a motorized wheelchair be more effective? Why design a robot that walks on two legs (and probably falls over when the battery dies, like a segway) when you can just design some type of "smart" wheelchair that can memorize paths, detect hazards (puddles, extreme heat in case of a fire), and help guide the user to important things? Like a doctor could put in some name of a room and some time (like "room 135 5:30PM" for physical therapy or something) and the wheelchair can use some type of wireless technology and find out the location by downloading the path from a database in the hospital and the wheelchair can remind the patient when to go their and drive them their automatically? I dunno I think companies are just designing robots by throwing darts "Ok we landed on legs, 2 and hospital, now we need a robot with 2 legs that can be used in hospitals." or "Ok we've got dragon, 4, and home, we need a home security robot that looks like a dragon and walks on 4 legs!"
This is slashdot, mention any obscure SiFi flick and someone will have done their senior thesis on it.
lessee...
Enemy Mine had a predictable ending.
*ducks and covers*
Take some lessons in dragon-drawing and get back to us later.
p
In Korea, long hair is for old people!
Why does this thing need to be a robot? In order to justify the price? Just put these same sensors around your home and be done with it. It's akin to putting wheels on a Mac and charging $15K more! silly...
"The price is about $18,000, but you can choose between five colors."
the Apple strategy.
Integrate Keynote and LaTeX
Well, perhaps it isn't so practical. Then again, how practical were the early room-sized computers?
Try and see it as a prototype and be very very scared. After all, the one in this link is armed with heat sensors and an automatic pistol.
It can be controlled via the internet! Isn't this what every scipt kiddie dreams about?
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
...looks more like tachikoma to me.
Robert
Bastard Operator From 193.219.28.162
So what they're saying is that it's video camera, with a smoke and heat detector attached on a four legged dolly? Hmm...
I knew it looked fammiliar... see this article
Check the date. Tmsuk is responsible in both cases, though it seems Sanyo got the most of credit in 2002.
It is rather a cyber-pig.
There you are, staring at me again.
Someone had to do it sooner or later, so I thought that I would be the first. Flame throwing dragon.
/ steven/flamethrower.jpg
Sadly the perpetrator got away as he unplugged the power cord from the 18,000 dollar flame throwing "dragon."
Original images from:
http://mpolak.neostrada.pl/gfx/gfx_yourart/steven
http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/2004/03/06.html
Hey look no pointless curley braces or semicolons... just like Python
My wife says it is Turtle and not Dragon.
Looks like a camel to me, really.
-- Fratz, human
So what's to keep me from pulling up in a pickup truck and stealing the guard dragon itself? I mean, I didn't see a big fricken laser mounted on its head or anything...
Really I don't get it:
Who does really need this big, expensive (and ugly) bit of hardware, when they can hack their toasters to do more than this beast?
That looks like a miniature protoss dragoon. Only thing missing is a wounded veteran warrior operating it. Does it shoot plasma balls?
What we really want to know is: HD, AC and THAC0.
Also, will the different colors affect their stats and attacks.
Refilling with third party maidens may void warranty.
That hump is a dead giveaway.
If only it stored and chilled water, it could also bring you a cold drink.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
Banryu is nothing new. It was running around Tokyu Hands Shibuya-ten back in April '03 when I saw it.
The Banryu guard-robot
Just to re-highlight:6 .htmls /banryu2.jp g
From here:
http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/2004/03/0
It's in "action":
http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/image
Anybody else notice the plug on its back side?
Visualize: Thief -- walks in, sees dragon, hmm.. dashes across room, pulls plug, owner doesn't get call.
So much for the dragon.
how long before someone develops "skins" for that thing? the robot's battery can also power equipment like heat tracking gun turret, electroshocking device for close range combat and poisonous gas container for situations where the robot is surrounded by a large number of enemies!
It seems a lot cheaper to have a rifle on some sort of a swinger arm that blasts away at intruders. Seems a lot cheaper!
This is my sig.
The Flat Earth mythology only popped up a very few times in history, and the Medievel Church (AKA "the Church of the Dark Ages") imported the idea from the pagans rather than thinking it up themselves. Most people in most places and times have believed the Earth to be round.
:-).
Unfortunately, your smug almost-funny doesn't prove anything either way (because if it did, I'd be able to have a lot mroe fun with it
(Worse, it wasn't even accepted dogma: Galileo was just rude about pointing out the mistakes of the then-incumbent scientists, which turned it into a political fracas. Other ideas pulled from paganism include indulgences, sacerdotal services, pageantry, "the saints" as disembodied and helpful spirits, Mary as "Mater Dio", Orders... well, a long list. They didn't fall for quite everything, but they had a fair stab at it).
I think you need to apply your constant-assertion misinterpretation to a lot of modern science. Only as scientific dogma is ploughed up can newer, better theories be planted. As it is, the pace of technical progress is forcing the overturning of incumbencies a lot faster than, say, fifty years ago. New technologies for testing (and breaking) theories are snowballing.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing