OK, so I'm doing my rules for robot construction. So far I have rated scores for intellect, manipulate and strength, options for motive form (covering walking, wheeled and gravitic) and a whole list of things that can be bought as extra add ons.
I'm trying to figure an elegant way to link some of these together. For example, some levels of strength are going to require minimum levels of size; some levels of motive form will have maximum weight capacity (well, all actually - if you want bigger you have to buy two motive forms and half the speed), and so on. I am figuring weight will be determined primarily by size on a fairly linear scale.
The headache though seems to be linking strength with size. I am scaling it such that a strength rating 5 robot is about as scrong as a normal human. A rating 10 could lift and manipulate in the region of a tonne with ratings higher than 10 indicating beefier machines - so that scale is moving away from the linear. I'm wondering about doing a relatively straightforward formula such that a robot must have a size rating of at least half its strength rating, and each size rating is a minimum of 25 cm in one dimension and 10cm in the others. and has a weight requirement of 20kg per size rating.
So for example, a domestic service robot might have:
Intellect 3 - able to recognise basic forms and patterns and in very limited situations can perform autonomous actions (e.g. pick up your dirty keks from the floor where you tossed them last night), but relies primarily on programming
Manipulate 6 - needs to be fairly dextrous to operate household appliances and do the dusting
Strength 3 - could carry maybe 15-20kg
Size 5 - somewhere in the region of 60-70 cm tall, and radius of 25cm or so - in this case size is determined by function rather than strength - it needs some storage to process trash, and to have sufficient reach to perform some tasks
Motive form - slow wheeled
Whereas a military scout robot might have:
Intellect 6 - capable of complex tasks involving interaction with the environment and some level of judgement
Manipulate 1 - limited to moving into things
Strength 9 - to carry itself, probable extra kit, and at a push, a passenger (maybe a wounded soldier)
Size 5 - the smaller the better, but strength requires this as a minimum. As the form can mostly be determined by the purchaser, could take the form of a slab a few cm thick, but with enough area to carry the human.
Motive form - fast gravitic (the passenger may need to be able to hold on. Tightly)
... and so on.
All robots come with appropriate chassis, standard batteries, scanners so they can "see" the world around them, and a pre-programmed factory personality
Bolt on additions so far are:
Human-pleasing exterior. Generally high-polish, and relatively seamless. Designed to hide the mess of motors, wires and other necessary innards from sight in polite society
Lightweight chassis: constructed from a stronger than normal alloy, allows a better strength-size ratio
Armoured: AT improved
Human Interface device: essentially, a speaker and voice synthesister.
Improved battery life: can operate twice as long
Concealed weapons: Not legal. Up to a mark equivalent to half the size rating
Improved power pack: required for gravitic vehicles
Extra torque: can carry twice as much extra weight, at a cost of 50% speed
Extra speed: can move twice as fast, but carry half the weight.
Lightweight construction with no loss of strength: reduces weight by 25%, increases speed by 25%
Durable: comes with backup systems and over-strong structure. Reduces speed by 25%, increases weight by 25%
Stealthy: penalty to being scanned
Custom paint job: Looks purdy
Ride-on: Some robots (e.g. a loading exo-skeleton) require a human to control them directly. Others have the capability to be ridden on/in
There will be a table on which minimums of certain ratings for the above will be specified along with the weights.
I'm trying to keep this as simple as I can but it seems to be wanting to get real complex. Anyone have any useful (or funny!) suggestions on achieving this?
