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Worldbuilding

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  • $\begingroup$ That sounds like a serious problem for infantry-sized future robots on months-long campaigns without replenishment. Both of your ideas are way too large and heavy and thus there seems to be no way around other than 'more advanced batteries'. Without those advancements, I suppose the takeaway is that organisms seem to be more the way to go. $\endgroup$
    – Terra
    Commented Jan 23 at 4:21
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    $\begingroup$ @Terra when you understand how energy-efficient a biological organism is when compared to machines of the same weight and strength, its strategic advantages start to weigh against its tactical shortcomings. $\endgroup$
    – Hunting.Targ
    Commented Jan 23 at 5:13
  • $\begingroup$ @Terra Also, even though orgamisms need continual replenishment, the way that cells and tissues function essentially means that the machine and the power source are two systems sharing the same structure, distributed across its mass synergystically. We don't build machines that way because we don't imagine them that way - we haven't had to before, we've been able to make do with naturally occurring denizens for millenia. $\endgroup$
    – Hunting.Targ
    Commented Jan 23 at 5:18
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    $\begingroup$ @Terra Note that organisms are also useless "on months-long campaigns without replenishment" - make a soldier, or a horse, go days at a time without eating, and you'll soon run into problems. If an army marches on its stomach, a robot army would march on its batteries. In both cases, what you need is supply lines allowing the energy to reach the front in the form of food / fuel / replacement battery packs. $\endgroup$
    – IMSoP
    Commented Jan 23 at 17:58
  • $\begingroup$ "machinery is often purpose-built for specific tasks where the task is more important than the energy usage" - in fact doing more work by expending more energy is more often than not the desired behaviour. You would rather have the vacuum cleaner's 2kg battery get drained in an hour than having to work 4 hours to do your cleaning. $\endgroup$
    – user3819867
    Commented Jan 24 at 10:12