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Ratbot
Rider
Image from Juan Ochoa

The earliest type of practically usable and self-governed bot known to the terragens. It emulates some aspects of terragen rodents.

Its eyesight is, at best, limited. It orientates by touch by whiskerlike protrusions. It navigates in the space by remembering the touch sensation of places er has been and walking a fixed distances by memory. When tossed aside, it can return to the familiar place only by chance exploration of the environment. It is primitive, but surprisingly effective, especially in places like buildings, starships, with many straight lines and few irregular surfaces, especially if an approximate map of the surroundings can be loaded into it.

Particularly numerous in the Outer Reaches, Ratbots are often found in association with, or in competition with baseline rats and rat provolves.

One of the most widespead form of ratbot is the rodent-like form used by the well-known PackRat aioid clade, although these entities utilise a number of other bodyplans as well.
 
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Appears in Topics
Drytech/HylotechMiddle Tech / MidtechRobotics
 
Development Notes
Text by Jorge Ditchkenberg
Initially published on 06 February 2004.

 
 
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