[–] Wall41and14Wall ago
It's reality. Power is a limiting factor in almost everything.
Take power away from farms and see how much they produce. Take power away from mines and see how much they produce.
Put your laptop on battery - how long does it last? A few hours. That isn't much time for it to think of anything. How long does a drone fly? How long do those Boston Dynamics robots work on battery?
How much energy does Google's data center use? Energy is always going to be limiting.
[–] Maroonsaint ago
You think the future won’t have better ways of harvesting power? I have no idea how they’ll do it maybe they’ll have solar collecting dicks on them but you’re talking about our modern energy consumption like everything else will progress but we’ll still be using Duracell batteries in a hundred years
[–] Wall41and14Wall ago
Battery technology has inherent limits - Lithium is one of the best materials for batteries and that is why it is so common. There may be composite materials in the future but no battery will ever match the energy density of a fossil fuel.
The best long term power source for any robot would be using a fossil fuel somehow. Solar is very bulky for the power produced. Mobile robots would most likely not use solar because of the power/weight ratio and also the unpredictable output. If 1/4 of a solar panel is in shade the total output is less than half.
People have survived without power for years. People are not reliant on energy - we eat food.
The most dangerous combination would be an AI robot with some sort of nuclear power, and I can't imagine any designer making that happen. If that did happen, then I would be a bit worried.
Electronics in sensors and displays and microprocessors - the "intelligence" has gotten much more power efficient. The "mechanicals" of robots cannot be driven by small solar panels like calculators.
[–] Maroonsaint ago
We have solar powered calculators as it is. You can buy em for like a dollar. You’re talking about a non issue. If there’s no energy available then humans will be dead already