So I miiiiight have been researching Sony Aibos because some kind of
aibo/aibo plush with AR glasses miiight be a thing I need in my life
(and thanks so much for that weird compulsion, @snarp, @codedredalert).And I came across this fascinating article
about people in Japan trying to care for their robot pets now that Sony
has stopped offering support for them. The owners have meet ups where
they help each other with programming and repairr advice. Failing
joints are a big problem. A repair person in Chiba, that started taking
on cases after desperate please from owners “has begun collecting
broken Aibos from owners who have
died, in the hope that their remains can be used to help keep other
robots running.”And
I think this is just such a fascinating inversion of the more typical
‘immortal robot’/‘transient humans’ stories. It really makes me want to
see more of this stuff in fics:
- Pet/companion robots that
are no longer supported by their manufacturers and their human friends’
frantic efforts to keep them mobile and functioning.- Human-robot
communities that evolve around group-sourcing parts and repairs and
work-arounds and strategies for improving quality-of-life for
non-supported robots.- Robots that are
chimeras of the functioning parts of several failing robots, and have to
navigate their new meshed identities and now tangled interpersonal
relationships.- Robots that get their programming
jury-rigged into newer systems they weren’t really designed for and have
to deal with glitches and malfunctions and dysphoria. Robots that still don’t have
official technical support from manufacturers because they’re unapproved
modifications.- Robots struggling with whether they should they let parts of themselves be re-written to better fit their new bodies.
- Lines of robots that suddenly have finite lifespans because a necessary part can’t be made or replaced anymore
- or:
Robots that suddenly have finite populations, because new robots can
only be made by taking that limited part from old robots, and now they
have to decide whether they want to be static immortals or turn over
through new and better generations like biological beings.- Robot cultures that mix both approaches.
- Robot cultures that are furiously divided on the topic.
- Robots robots robots
@cyborgdeathknight this seems relevant to your interests
Yes yes yes