 November 3, 2017 - 6:44pm | Working on the Assault Scout Technical Manual for the new assault scout design and wrote up the maintenance robot. Enjoy. The Swift class assault scout carries six Mark VI standard Starfleet maintenance robots (SMR-MKVI) that perform general janitorial work on the ship as well as are responsible for helping the engineer with any shipboard maintenance and damage control. When not actively performing duties, the robots are docked in their storage cradles on the Engineering Deck (area 9) which also serve as their charging stations. These cradles keep them secured during zero- and high-g maneuvers. The robots have a standard body and are roughly humanoid in shape with two legs, two arms, and a head although they are somewhat smaller than a human standing only 1.5m tall. This allows them to access all of the passages and crawl spaces designed for the live crew. However, they have an extra set of arms (for a total of 4), allowing them to manipulate and hold more tools and components while working. Their "feet" have built in magnetic shoes allowing them to work on the hull of the ship even while under acceleration. They are fully capable of working in vacuum with no adverse effects. They have both normal optical vision as well as built in IR goggles allowing them to see in both visible and infrared wavelengths simultaneously as part of their maintenance duties. While they have no built in armament beyond their hands, the robots are equipped with an Attack/Defense program and can participate in boarding actions and repelling any boarding attempts if necessary. They can use any standard weapon from the ship's stores if instructed to do so. The robots are connected to the ship's computer via their computer link program and the ship's robot management program. This is used to coordinate their janitorial, maintenance, and repair activities either autonomously or under direction of the ships engineer. As such, they form an integral part of the ship's Damage Control Rating, accounting for 15 of the 60 total DCR rating. For every two robots missing from the ship's compliment, reduce its DCR by 5 points.
Robot Statistics
Mission and functionsMissionMaintain assigned ship and assist in protection of ship and crew. Function 1: Maintain ship's systemsThe ship's systems are defined by a list of all the various components on the ship. Maintenance is defined as a list of standard tasks and checks to be performed on a set schedule. Details of the operation and status of the various systems are part of the robot's maintenance program Function 2: Repair damaged systemsWhen routine maintenance and checks determine that a system is not operating properly, the robots, in conjunction with the ship's computer and engineers, use data in the robot's maintenance program to bring the system back into its proper state or working condition Function 3: Assist as directed in defending shipDirection can come from the ship's computer or authorized ship's crew and can include instructions on level of force, type of weapons, and areas of the ship to defend. In the absence of other instructions, priority is given to protecting the crew first, and ship's systems secondarily. Function 4: Assist in boarding actionsUnder direction of authorized ship's crew member, assist in capture of other vessels using designated force, weapons, and objectives. Robot must remain in visible range of a ship's crew member at all times when leaving the ship and has a priority of defending the ship's crew. Function 5: Perform tasks assigned by ship's crew and computerPerform non-routine tasks as assigned by authorized ship's crew members or the ship's computer. Function 6: Authorized ship's crewAuthorized ship's crew are defined as all ship crew members assigned to the vessel by the governing authority (Spacefleet, planetary militia, etc.). Recognition is by vocal, visual, and biometric prints delivered via the ship's computer when the crew member is assigned to the ship. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
 November 4, 2017 - 1:36am | Personally I don't see the need for an Attack/Defense program on any maintennace 'bot. Self Defense, sure...but not an active combat program such as A/D. Spacefleet has combat robots for that role (I vote for Terminator-esque Hunter-Killer models). |
November 4, 2017 - 8:49am | I thought about that but decided that with the limited space on the Assault Scout, these bots actually were cross-purposed to assist the crew if they needed to board another ship. Reading the descriptions of the programs, the self-defense program didn't quite provide the functionality I wanted. They rarely are used but have the ability if needed. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
 November 18, 2017 - 2:30am | How do they manoeuvre in space (i.e. when outside the ship) and how far can they travel away from the ship? As for Attack/Defence, that makes sense to me. They could be put to use in combat situations you've described. In this way they double-up their usefulness to the crew. |
November 18, 2017 - 11:47am | I get the dual purpose, I just feel the A/D program should be an option or simply added by the crew after the fact rather than standard operational equipment. After all, one could do the same with a service robot on a yacht or luxury liner: "Enjoy your beverage, sir...relax while I go dispatch the invading boarders the computer has detected." (reaches for an automatic pistol concealed behind the robot's thigh panels a la RoboCop) Yes, dual purpose works well on a small ship, but it shouldn't come that way from the factory. I would simply edit the article to read "Most crews typically upgrade the programming with an Attack/Defense program to assist with boarding and repelling." |
 November 18, 2017 - 3:13pm | Here's a thing. Did you know that your smart phone can pick up local radio? They do it in Africa and isolated parts of Asia. Since all smart phones are manufactured in a few limited places, they do not make differences in the part that can recieve radio. They do make some changes for power but the radio feature is on your phone. It is just deactivated. When SF came out we did not have these things but a deactivated feature of a robot that can be activated by command codes would be an idea. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 November 19, 2017 - 6:08am | Here's a thing. Did you know that your smart phone can pick up local radio? They do it in Africa and isolated parts of Asia. Since all smart phones are manufactured in a few limited places, they do not make differences in the part that can recieve radio. They do make some changes for power but the radio feature is on your phone. It is just deactivated. When SF came out we did not have these things but a deactivated feature of a robot that can be activated by command codes would be an idea. I like this. corporation makes robot X with deactivated military programing and maximizes profits by not retooling production lines simply sells basically the same robot to shipping and starline concerns as well as to the military Roboticist in the know understand that its a relatively simple fix to reactivate the programming already installed. However they will have to rewrite the mission and some functions so that they do have some work to do. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
