Van Irie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
yvannairie) wrote2019-02-14 10:30 pm
yvannairie) wrote2019-02-14 10:30 pm
Entry tags:
Regarding the "They’re Robots Why Can They Be Knocked Out" question
(Reposted from Tumblr)
A possibility I really like is that the kind of temporary glitchiness resulting in blackouts and symptoms we’d associate with a mild concussion is due to connection failures and power rerouting.
Basically, circuit boards themselves are usually not the parts that get damaged when electronics are hit with concussive force. It’s usually the mechanical parts – spinning hard drives, screens and keyboards – that absorb the impact, breaking in ways that requires repair or full-on replacement, but something else that can absorb the impact is the wiring. Spesifically, cables and their connectors.
While cables themselves can be very sturdy, especially if they’re thick, insulated cables, they also have tradeoffs between durability and performance. Optical fibers are lossless and provide one of the fastest transfer speeds through any medium, but they’re pretty damn fragile and often have a maximum functional length due to material concerns, while as spools of metal-cored cable can be coated and arranged in ways that make it very resilient to twisting and fraying.
So, let’s assume mecha have a core transmission network which connects their sensory nets, control systems and processing units, made up of extremely efficient but relatively frail cables, with a secondary backup network that isn’t nearly as efficient but consumes less power and is also more durable. When the core network is damaged – say, a cable gets yanked free – the information that would normally pass through that part gets routed through the backup network. The mech remains functional, but it slows them down, and the increased processor load can be disorienting, especially if large parts of the core network are down.
Also, frayed and damaged wires can be a hazard all on their own, b/c if they’re powered they can create sparks and short circuits, causing widespread damage. Possibly the way the cable are set include “floating” connectors with an affordance range, which lets them move and even stretch a bit but cuts power if they’re put under too much stress. This would cause short blackouts, possibly even when a cable just gets yanked a bit too hard. Having core processing units depowered like that would result in an unsafe shut down, which would probably also be pretty disorienting upon starting back up.
Basically -- well-shielded components connected through multiple redundant networks provides the best functionality, roughly analogous to the nervous system. As long as even one of those networks still function, the mech in question will function, but they'll probably feel like shit because their self-repair systems have to work double-time to manage the reroutings. Self-repair nanites can also probably "fix" wires that have come loose by "welding" the connection with some kind of a filler material, but reconnecting a pulled-out cable is still the preferrable solution because welds like that are sensitive to breaking under stress. (In general, I have pretty precise ideas for what is the maximum complexity of construction the self-repair nanite colony can make. As you do, when you're the type to overthink stuff like this =v=;)
Oh, and soft circuitry exists too -- made from plastics and conductive polymers. With a processor like that, a concussion would probably work roughly the same as it works with a squishy organic brain, but I'd have to look into current soft circuitry tech and its efficiency compared to traditional plastic-and-metal circuit boards before I can comment on it further.
A possibility I really like is that the kind of temporary glitchiness resulting in blackouts and symptoms we’d associate with a mild concussion is due to connection failures and power rerouting.
Basically, circuit boards themselves are usually not the parts that get damaged when electronics are hit with concussive force. It’s usually the mechanical parts – spinning hard drives, screens and keyboards – that absorb the impact, breaking in ways that requires repair or full-on replacement, but something else that can absorb the impact is the wiring. Spesifically, cables and their connectors.
While cables themselves can be very sturdy, especially if they’re thick, insulated cables, they also have tradeoffs between durability and performance. Optical fibers are lossless and provide one of the fastest transfer speeds through any medium, but they’re pretty damn fragile and often have a maximum functional length due to material concerns, while as spools of metal-cored cable can be coated and arranged in ways that make it very resilient to twisting and fraying.
So, let’s assume mecha have a core transmission network which connects their sensory nets, control systems and processing units, made up of extremely efficient but relatively frail cables, with a secondary backup network that isn’t nearly as efficient but consumes less power and is also more durable. When the core network is damaged – say, a cable gets yanked free – the information that would normally pass through that part gets routed through the backup network. The mech remains functional, but it slows them down, and the increased processor load can be disorienting, especially if large parts of the core network are down.
Also, frayed and damaged wires can be a hazard all on their own, b/c if they’re powered they can create sparks and short circuits, causing widespread damage. Possibly the way the cable are set include “floating” connectors with an affordance range, which lets them move and even stretch a bit but cuts power if they’re put under too much stress. This would cause short blackouts, possibly even when a cable just gets yanked a bit too hard. Having core processing units depowered like that would result in an unsafe shut down, which would probably also be pretty disorienting upon starting back up.
Basically -- well-shielded components connected through multiple redundant networks provides the best functionality, roughly analogous to the nervous system. As long as even one of those networks still function, the mech in question will function, but they'll probably feel like shit because their self-repair systems have to work double-time to manage the reroutings. Self-repair nanites can also probably "fix" wires that have come loose by "welding" the connection with some kind of a filler material, but reconnecting a pulled-out cable is still the preferrable solution because welds like that are sensitive to breaking under stress. (In general, I have pretty precise ideas for what is the maximum complexity of construction the self-repair nanite colony can make. As you do, when you're the type to overthink stuff like this =v=;)
Oh, and soft circuitry exists too -- made from plastics and conductive polymers. With a processor like that, a concussion would probably work roughly the same as it works with a squishy organic brain, but I'd have to look into current soft circuitry tech and its efficiency compared to traditional plastic-and-metal circuit boards before I can comment on it further.