Robots

[Omeganian]

Wasn't there a similar discussion already?

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=140663

[Enigma]

Wouldn't the holoemitter mean they solved the hardware problem too? Once he got the emitter the EMH seemed to be perfectly capable of operating goodly distances away from VOY so it's not like his AI was back on the ship and only its reactions were transmitted through the emitter.

Unfortunately, the Doctor's emitter is about as rare as Data. Plus it is future tech. You could argue about the large version that he carried in Endgame, then again it may just as rare as the 29th century version. I do not recall afaik, the Doctor's SO having a mobile emitter. Possibly even by the future in Endgame, mobile emitters are difficult to manufacture?

I find it funny though that the Starfleet is unable to replicate Soong's positronic technology yet they will end up creating something even better.

I do find it unusual that the UFP do not have robots of any kind in use other than Data (and now possibly B4).

Nevertheless, currently I believe that SW has an overwhelming advantage in AI development and hardware construction. In ST, while they can develop advanced AI, it is largely frowned upon due to several instances of Starfleet going up against rogue AI (Lore, M5, etc..) but are willing to pounce on stable AI for their own use (wanting Data and Lawl\Lahl).

Robotics in ST is still largely in its infancy when in reality they should be swimming in robot or androids for various functions from freight handling to starship security and ground forces.

[Batman]

Oh, I never meant to intimate the Feds could actually reproduce the emitter, sorry about that. All I was trying to say was that the guys who did build the emitter apparently managed to solve the hardware problem, nothing more.

[Ryag Han]

i always wondered how that emitter worked. is it something like a portable holodeck? you know, creates a force field and covers it with a hologram? i always thought that's how it works. DOSE IT?

[Enigma]

i always wondered how that emitter worked. is it something like a portable holodeck? you know, creates a force field and covers it with a hologram? i always thought that's how it works. DOSE IT?

I believe so. Think of the portable holodeck that housed Moriarity. Slap on a holo-projector and you get the same principle though not really useful as a mobile emitter.

[Enigma]

Oh, I never meant to intimate the Feds could actually reproduce the emitter, sorry about that. All I was trying to say was that the guys who did build the emitter apparently managed to solve the hardware problem, nothing more.

Same can be said of Data, Lore and B4. Soong managed to solve the hardware problem but kept it to himself.

The mobile emitter afaik, is Federation technology that originally appeared as a 29th century version and then later a larger version is shown from the early 25th century (Possibly the 29th century ME was taken apart so it could be reversed engineered, hence we see the Doctor with a large ME instead of the original.). *BUT* like Data it is quite rare as we do not see any other MEs onscreen (remember Doc's SO did not have one.). *BUT* unlike Data, I believe the MEs eventually will be mass produced because in Endgame I believe, the Doc was celebrating the Bill of Rights for AIs, so I would assume that they'd eventually ramp up production to accommodate the newly liberated AIs.

It may seem like I'm flip-flopping but the more I think about it, the more I believe that the SW has the current advantage in AI technology (largely in the technology for developing the hardware). ST on the other hand, AI technology is really in its infancy when in reality it should have been far more advanced than it is.

Somewhere between now and the ENT era, AI and robotics research must have been severely crippled so as to developed non sentient AI (I do not believe there was any sentient AIs in ENT other than that body snatching sentient station but then again it isn't Federation tech). Sentient AIs began to appear in TOS era but mostly as being rogue or gone mad (M5, Roger Korby and his android replicator for example). Earliest examples of stable AIs afaik were the MUDD androids, which for the life of me, I cannot understand why the Feds couldn't just use them and create androids for their own purposes and improved upon, if possible. But then again they are not Federation\Starfleet technology.

The earliest form of stable AI that we know of is the starship computer in TOS. But no robots, androids and the like. My opinion is that somehow between the 21st century and the 23rd century mankind was leery of sentient artificial intelligent entities and therefore drastically cut back in its development and therefore most menial and dangerous tasks were still done by organic beings. It makes sense since we see no independent artificially intelligent sentient beings developed by the Federation until the arrival of the EMH. Beforehand, all instances of AI sentience from Fed tech was by accident (exocomps, Wesley's nanites, E-D itself, Moriarity, etc..)

Getting back to the mobile emitter, you are right that it solves the hardware issue. The Feds now have decent and stable AI technology thanks to Zimmerman. With further development, I wouldn't be surprised at all that down the road, they'll have free roaming AIs with greater sophistication than their SW counter-parts.

Sorry if this sounds like I'm rambling. It's late and my mind isn't in one place.

[StarSword]

Here's a thought, has anyone ever used HRDs to use as Avatars? Like a Moff or other ranking individual wants to be somewhere "personally" but doesn't want to put themselves in harms way. So they interface with an HRD copy of themselves from a safe distance and send that into the area.

Not quite, although there were two instances I know of where somebody installed their personality into an HRD permanently, using Ssi-ruuk "entechment" technology. Nichos Marr in Children of the Jedi, a Jedi dying of Quannot's Syndrome, and Molierre Cundertol in Force Heretic II: Refugee, who just plain wanted to live forever.