A robot is a mechanical or virtual, artificial agent. It is usually an electromechanical system, which, by its appearance or movements, conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own.
[top] [Edit Robot]
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Robots have often been featured in various Muppet productions over the years, as characters or as loudly whirring props. Robots, mechanical devices which can move and operate on their own, have a similar mystique to that of the puppet. In the Muppet universe, however, like other appliances, robots are generally distinguished by their ineptness and tendency to fall apart or explode. Many of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's inventions, whether referred to as such or not, could be considered robots.
 A robot appears in Fozzie's magic hat in The Muppet Show episode 421 |
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 Tin Thing (a cyborg) |
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 Robot Politician (played by Peter Ustinov) |
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 An unnamed robot seen on The Mike Douglas Show |
 Frankie from Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures |
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 Telly, Elmo, and Rosita dressed as robots in Episode 4185 |
 Kurro from Barrio Sésamo |
 Zé Das Latas from Vila Sésamo |
 Trans-Go JoBot |
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 "Cookie Makes Some Dough" |
 Conky from Pee-Wee's Playhouse |
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A robot is a machine capable of autonomously completing tasks. Depending upon the robot, these tasks may be simple or complex, and may require little human intervention or complete oversight.
In the Fallout universe, robots had been constructed for many purposes, and many examples survived long enough to be a factor in the Fallout world.
Robots had been constructed by pre-War society to fill all niches and occupations. From general-purpose utility droids to full-fledged military battle machines, robots could be found in almost any environment and function.
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Typically, robots are equipped with a basic programming structure that dictates behavior and priorities. In most cases, these rules are effectively set in stone, and there's little the player can do to influence them. However, robots also develop personalities. Whether this is an intended feature present from manufacturing or the cumulative result of centuries of poorly-attended operation is unclear. Some robots, such as the Nuka-Cola shipping foreman appear to have rather harsh personalities present from their first days of activation, while others, such as the Protectron series seem to have little personality at all. At times, this personality gestalt seems to operate at odds with the fundamental core programming of the robot.
Notable examples of this discontent include Cerberus, the Mr. Gutsy robotic soldier that patrols Underworld. Despite programming to protect the ghouls of the city, Cerberus nevertheless admits quite freely that it detests the ghouls and, were it not for his combat inhibitor, would likely kill them all. Sawbones, resident medic at the Citadel, has an unhealthy interest in pain driven by his personality, while his programming clearly states he is a medic. Robots can even exhibit finicky personalities, one such Mr. Gutsy RL-3 will exhibit distaste in anyone without neutral karma.
Even robotic butlers show contrary streaks, although these aberrations are less likely to cause grievous bodily injury. The butler present in the player's home in Fallout 3 is often overheard saying with a cheery voice "How can I serve you master?" while muttering, sotto voce, "Not that I really want to" some seconds later.
Robots are often pressed into emergency duty outside their normal menu of skills, although this meets with varying degrees of success. A general-maintenance Mr. Handy will likely make a poor medic.
It may also be noted that without proper supervision, robots may handle situations rather extremely. Metro Protectron will kill an unarmed person if they do not have a ticket, on top of this they do not accept Red Pass or Blue Pass cards, meaning someone traveling on these lines may be attacked even with proper authorization. Another note is that the Factory Protectron mentioned on the computer terminal in The Pitt killed all the workers when they refused to leave the mill and their jobs. Also, Milo the Shipping Foreman, a Type II Mr. Handy robot, had trapped a group of employees in a locked closet to die, and for very minor infractions (taking a longer lunchbreak, for example). With this in mind it can be safe to say that robots of the fallout universe do not follow Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, or if they do very loosely. It would seem that east coast robots have a naturally adverse attitude towards humans, or animated things in general- living or robotic, as all the robots feature a combat "Inhibitor" meaning that the robots all exhibit an uncontrollable urge to kill, without the inhibitor anyway.
While some robots in the Fallout wastelands are benign, most are following centuries-old programming -- or newer programming -- that classifies the player as a threat. To that end, effective anti-robot combat strategies are a must.
Most robots are highly resistant to damage from conventional weapons. Bullets do not generally affect robots as severely as they do their organic masters, and militarized robots can generally shrug off grenade shrapnel. However, like all electronics, robots are vulnerable to the effects of an EMP, making pulse weapons the ideal choice for disabling a robotic enemy.
Pulse grenades, pulse mines, and 12 Gauge EMP Shells are ideal for disabling a robot quickly, and though these munitions are typically expensive, they are much more efficient in a cost-for-effect frame of mind. Explosive weapons like missile launchers or miniature nuclear weapons are effective, but more costly to use against robots.
Players with sufficient Repair skills, or certain perks can disable inattentive robots, while players with sufficient Science skills can occasionally find control terminals that can shut down or reconfigure patrolling mechanical marauders.
A alien turret equipped with a electric cannon.
Seen in: Fallout 3
The most human of all robots, androids could easily pass as normal humans under all but the most intense examinations.
Seen in: Fallout 3
A little robot, slow, box-like moving things with two hands which probably assist Secret Vault technicians during their work.
Seen in: Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
A automatic, unmanned machine guns which are capable of sensing and attacking targets that are hostile to the faction or organization to which they belong.
Seen in: Fallout 3
An autonomous defence turret equipped with twin minigun cannons and relatively heavily armoured.
Seen in: Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics
The undisputed heavyweight king of the Calculator's army, the Behemoth lived up to its name by being able to easily obliterate its foes and survive massive amounts of damage.
Seen in: Fallout Tactics
Half dog, half robot, cyberdogs made for loyal companions, if not terribly adaptable. Cyberdogs were products of the Enclave.
Seen in: Fallout 2
Experimental Weapons Drone are a more advanced variant of the Guardian Drone and equipped with a Drone Cannon Ex-B.
Seen in: Fallout 3
Relatively benign, the Eyebot is designed mainly to spread radio broadcast Enclave propaganda. Although armed with an electric stunner, these robots have very negligable combat strength.
Seen in: Fallout 3
This weak security robot uses an electric cattle prod to coerce disobedient persons back into submission. Sturdy but unsuited to real combat.
Seen in: Fallout, Fallout 2, Van Buren
Guardian Drones are a more advanced variant of the Support Drone which carries a Drone Cannon and does a considerable amount of damage.
Seen in: Fallout 3
A security robots, three-legged orb-like walker and uses chainguns to attack possible threats to well-being of the Secret Vault.
Seen in: Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
A turret equipped with twin plasma cannon and is heavily armored.
Seen in: Fallout 2
Useful only as scouts, Hover Robots performed reconnaissance missions for the Calculator. Very weak, but considered disposable.
Seen in: Fallout Tactics
A robotic foot soldier used by the Calculator, androids were neither durable nor powerful, but they were plentiful.
Seen in: Fallout Tactics
A security robots, three-legged orb-like walker and are "suicide" attackers which creates an electrical explosion on contact with the enemy.
Seen in: Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
A security robots, three-legged orb-like walker and uses fast-shooting laser canons to destroy its enemies.
Seen in: Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
A turret with a single-barrel laser cannon and has the ability to lower down for additional cover. It cannot fire while in cover.
Seen in: Fallout Tactics
A gigantic, heavily armed humanoid robot, designed for the United States military to be used during the liberation of Alaska. It was never fully completed and remained inoperative until being activated by The Brotherhood of Steel in the Capital Wasteland.
Seen in: Fallout 3
Essentially a robotic forklift, the Loadlifter's strength lay in its size and weight.
Seen in: Fallout Tactics
A little robot, have no arms, slow, box-like moving things that do some sort of maintenance work for the Vault and was also power generators with legs.
Seen in: Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
A militarized version of the Mr. Handy, designed for use by the United States Army and Marine Corps. A capable combatant.
Seen in: Fallout 3
This general-purpose robot was built mainly for housekeeping and maintenance. Although not a combat robot, a Mr. Handy can still pose a threat as a combatant.
Seen in: Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3
The second-heaviest military robot in the Calculator's ranks, the Pacification Bot could launch a devastating ranged attack and required a great deal of punishment to put down.
Seen in: Fallout Tactics
Vaguely reminiscent of Robbie the Robot, Protectrons were common robots in and around the Capitol Wasteland. While many were tasked with building or Metro security, some military versions can be found roaming the wasteland.
Seen in: Fallout 3
A cyborg robot that makes use of an organic brain as its main CPU, Robobrains have been found mated with animal and human brains. A less-capable combatant in Fallout and Fallout 2, the Robobrain's military cousin can be encountered in Fallout 3. Also, a unique Robobrain exists in Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel.
Seen in: Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout Tactics, Van Buren
Among the smallest of the Calculator's forces, the diminutive Scurry Bot patrolled tight confines and occasionally laid in ambush in difficult terrain.
Seen in: Fallout Tactics
Large, humanoid robots, Security Robots were weaker than their larger cousins, but when it came to exerting power in the tight confines of a building, few robots could equal its abilities.
Seen in: Fallout Tactics
Sentry Bots are bruisers, no matter what form they take. Capable of both dishing out and taking tremendous punishment, Sentry Bots represent the pinnacle of military robotics.
Seen in: Fallout 2, Fallout 3
A small robot, box or vacuum cleaner-like robots, that wash the floor in the Vault and perform small repairing tasks.
Seen in: Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
Support Drones are basic drones which are not equipped with weapons and instead they rely on melee attacks. It's likely that their primary function is maintenance aboard the alien vessels.
Seen in: Fallout 3
Though armed with a massive flail that made this robot a killing machine in close combat, the Tank Track Robots were nevertheless large and ungainly. Coupled with the inability to launch a ranged attack, they were easily countered by a prepared force.
Seen in: Fallout Tactics
A security robots, three-legged orb-like walker and uses powerful electric blasts generated by special Tesla deviece mounted on it, to attack possible threats to well-being of the Secret Vault.
Seen in: Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
Turret Robot are hidden turret underground and quickly pop-up if they see an enemy and shoot them with two powerful submachine cannon.
Seen in: Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
Designed primarily to handle the movement of radioactive waste, Agricola bots are heavily armored and durable.
Seen in: Van Buren
Massive, dog-like sentries, CRB-S units can be programmed to perform at varying levels of force to uphold law and order.
Seen in: Van Buren
A morphing gas pump equipped with a flamethrower, little is known about the Gasbot.
Seen in: Van Buren
A robotic perk, Cyborg, makes an appearance in Fallout 3.
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An extrasensory means of perception by which the brain generates electromagnetic waves which travel outward, bounce off objects, and are again picked up by the brain, which thus determines what its surroundings are.
[top] [Edit Radar Sense]
Reality warping is the ability to alter reality, and is often regarded as the ultimate superpower among comic fans. Generally, it translates as the ability to reshape matter and energy, turn a person's thoughts or desires into reality, bend time and space just as the Phoenix Force does to travel across timelines, and bend, twist or possibly even rewrite the laws of physics. The Joker, wielding the power of Mr. Mxyzptlk as "Emperor Joker", was even able to rewrite logic itself, for example, making the whole world believe that 2 + 2 equals "fish".
Some of the most extreme reality warpers, like Mxyzptlk and James Jaspers, are not even limited by their own physical bodies and can alter their own stature and appearance at will to become whatever they want to be, no matter how bizarre it might be. This ability seems to go far beyond anything that "ordinary" shapeshifters like Mystique and Morph could even think of in their wildest imagination. Most reality warping individuals, at least in Marvel comics, tend to be mutants.
Marvel's Mutant Reality Warpers Some Marvel Mutants with potential for reality warping encountered in Marvel comics are, amongst others:
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For a list of reality warpers, see Category:Reality Warpers
[top] [Edit Reality warper]
Reboot, means to discard all previous continuity in the series and start anew. Effectively, all previously-known history is declared by the writer to be null and void and the series starts over from the beginning.
This differs from a creator producing a separate interpretation of another creator's work; rather, the owner of the creation declares that the rebooted continuity is now the official version.
This term is often applied to comic books, where the prevailing continuity can be very important to the progress of future installments, acting (depending on circumstances and one's point of view) as a rich foundation from which to develop characters and storylines, or as a box limiting the story options available to tell and an irreconcilable mess of contradictory history. Such large continuities also become a barrier to introducing newcomers to the fandom, as the complex histories are difficult to learn, and make understanding the story very difficult; a reboot gives the chance for new fans to experience the story by reintroducing it in smaller and easier to understand installments.
Examples
(See Also: Canon, Retcon)
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Reincarnation is the ability to return to life after having died. Often times, this means that the soul of an individual is reborn in a new body, but in some cases, Reincarnation serves as a form of resurrection, wherein the soul is given renewed life in the person's original body. Unlike Regeneration, Reincarnation does not enable one to regrow lost or damaged tissue.
(See Also: Characters with Reincarnation)
[top] [Edit Reincarnation]
The ability to react to danger with great speed or hightened abilities. For example the Taskmaster has Photographic Reflexes and can reproduce anything he sees to aid him.
[top] [Edit Reflexes]
A Repulsor is an electronic device which uses particle beam technology to project a blast of concussive energy. Repulsor blasts may be directed by magnets and focused by electrostatic lenses, although they may also be self-focusing. One of the luminaries of repulsor design technology is Anthony Stark, who has incorporated them into every iteration of his patented Iron Man armors. Constructed using micro-circuitry, these repulsors are implemented into the palms of his battlesuit and are one of the armor's primary offensive tools.
(See Also: Anthony Stark; Iron Man Armor)
[top] [Edit Repulsor]
A retcon (short for retroactive continuity) is, in a nutshell, a storyteller's tool that adds previously unknown material to an event in a previous story. As with any tool, the quality of the finished product depends on the user's skill and intent.
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Now suppose that, months later, another writer wants to bring Doctor Doom into another story. It would strain your credulity to see him alive with no explanation. Continuity, an element of good storytelling, demands that the writer explain how Doom returned from his trip into space. The writer tells you something you didn't know at the time—"of course Doom has a jetpack built into his armor"—problem solved. With few exceptions, a writer will leave some ambiguity in these situations, precisely so that later writers can use the character again. A retcon can also solve problems created by other writers. In a serial medium such as comic books, the creative teams change from time to time, and each team has its own conceptions of the characters. If the previous team made a change that doesn't fit in with the new team's ideas, they can explain it away. In an extreme example of such a retcon, an entire season of the television series Dallas was undone by retroactively presenting it as a bad dream of one of the characters. On the other hand, a retcon can be a bad thing. The only rule in writing is that there are no rules, but there are guidelines. Guideline #1: play by the rules. All fiction depends on suspension of disbelief, your willingness to accept a story on its face. It may violate the rules of our world, but you ignore the impracticality as long as the story is internally consistent. In this type of bad retcon, someone does something out of character, or something happens that directly contradicts what previous writers have accepted as true. In other words, the retcon involves something inconsistent with the accepted "laws" of that fictional world. Guideline #2: use them sparingly. A retcon pulls you out of the story for a moment, forcing you to evaluate it in light of what you already know. If it's plausible and consistent, you'll accept it quickly and go on with the story. Further retcons keep pulling you back out of the story and ruin the experience. Guideline #3: keep it simple. A retcon adds new material to an old story. If you have read the old story, or first read it at a later time, you will feel cheated because so much was "left out." Guideline #4: show respect. Some comic-book events have become legends. Changing them retroactively cheapens them. |
For a good example of bad retcons, see the Clone Saga.
[top] [Edit Retcon]
A mechanical entity sometimes but not always possessing a humanoid configuration. Compare with android, cyborg, synthezold.
This could include androids, synthezoids, artificial intelligences and golems.
(See Also: List of Robots)
[top] [Edit Robot]
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0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
| Robots | |
 CT Book 8 |
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| Publisher | Game Designers' Workshop |
| Version | Classic Traveller |
| Author | Joe D. Fugate Sr. |
| Format | LBB |
| Canonical | Yes |
| Edition | 1st |
| Year Published | 1986 |
| Pages | 56 |
| Available from | The Classic Books |
| Product no. 344 | |
Robots Book 8 of Classic traveller.
At last, the complete guide to the construction and use of robots in Traveller. Add a completely new dimension to science fiction adventure with Robots.
Rules, essays and data included in Robots are -
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