Why does not Starfleet use drones on board its ships, I think they will be a good idea for some lower ranking jobs that does not require a lot of innovative thinking, and they can also be used for providing security on board starships, plus drones can be replaced if you lose them while personel cannot, for security drones, I am thinking more of the type used by the Trade Federation in Star Wars, the one that can be turned into a wheel, those can be made in volume and can provide security for starships and space stations, etc, I think war droids could have been a huge help during the Dominion War when Starfleet was ahving problems with manpower.
Why Does Not Starfleet Use Drones?
- Thread starter ren0312
- Start date
TNG had an episode that featured very sophsticated drones created to mine for something or another, but they quickly evolved self-awareness and had to be freed. The expense must be a prohibiting factor.
Star Trek never seems to get into robots except Data. They had those exocomps, but it is always just in one episode. They should have robots all over the place. I think they don't have them because Star Trek people are all sweet and nice and hard workers and people are just so darn special.
There are expendible, replaceable, cheap drones in Star Trek. They're called "Red shirts" 
Then again, Starfleet could be full of robots performing a variety of menial tasks. We just don't recognize them for such because they don't look like mechanical men. Rather, they look like starships...
No, I don't really mean tiny unmanned starships scurrying about. I mean robots that look like corridors within starships, or like carpets, or beds, or stairs; robots that keep the ship clean, seal hull breaches, move spares and supplies around by transporter and so forth. I mean robots that stay out of sight of the live crew because that's what is both aesthetically pleasing and efficient.
Timo Saloniemi
No, I don't really mean tiny unmanned starships scurrying about. I mean robots that look like corridors within starships, or like carpets, or beds, or stairs; robots that keep the ship clean, seal hull breaches, move spares and supplies around by transporter and so forth. I mean robots that stay out of sight of the live crew because that's what is both aesthetically pleasing and efficient.
Timo Saloniemi
Those would be the perfect kinds of robot, completely unobtrusive and discrete. But wouldn't Rosie (of the Jetsons,) be more fun?
Come to think of it, we never saw a cleaning crew, or any maintenance like painting of repairing carpet being done. However, routine chores like moving supplies and inventory were routinely done by crewmen. Hull breaches and the like were repaired by staff, in DSN or Enterprise, at least.
I like to think that it was because in the future we'll still be people-centric, and because of the quality of materials in existence will be so superior that routine replacement of flooring or wall coverings, etc., will wait until scheduled overhauls or refitting. Maybe a decade or so between?
Come to think of it, we never saw a cleaning crew, or any maintenance like painting of repairing carpet being done. However, routine chores like moving supplies and inventory were routinely done by crewmen. Hull breaches and the like were repaired by staff, in DSN or Enterprise, at least.
I like to think that it was because in the future we'll still be people-centric, and because of the quality of materials in existence will be so superior that routine replacement of flooring or wall coverings, etc., will wait until scheduled overhauls or refitting. Maybe a decade or so between?
I am thinking of war droids, the advantage they have is while they may be less innovative than humans, they can be mass produced, and can incur mass casualties because they are robots, not living things, I mean imagine if the casualties lists that Sisko were reading were war droids instead of Federation personnel.
Yes, IMAGINE. The entire war arc would have been meaningless.
"Well, we lost another 100,000 robotic troops today, but we did manage to kill 50,000 of their clone soldiers."
The technology presented in Trek will always be hampered by that presented in TOS. When modern day technology begins to make Trek tech look inferior, it's a tough balance to introduce new technology within the framework of the show while maintaining plausibility. I prefer the theory that much robotic technology is going on behind the scenes. I also concur with the statement that the starships themselves are extremely advanced robotic systems that operate almost entirely autonomously, thus rendering traditional robots largely irrelevant.
You want stupid robots walking around cleaning shit? Go watch Star Wars.
MeanJoePhaser
Admiral
The drones would eventually evolve into a sentient race, and the Federation would be judged on how it treats that race.
Or they'd rebell, there'd be many copies, and they'd claim to have a plan.
Or they'd rebell, there'd be many copies, and they'd claim to have a plan.
George Lucas made craploads of money with that meaningless scenario.FordSVT said:
Yes, IMAGINE. The entire war arc would have been meaningless.
"Well, we lost another 100,000 robotic troops today, but we did manage to kill 50,000 of their clone soldiers."
:thumbsup:
Rise of the Machines anyone?
AdmiralGarak said:
George Lucas made craploads of money with that meaningless scenario.
Well actually in the context of the prequel trilogy it makes sense, a lot of sense. After all who died in the totally manufactured war? Clones? Robots? Yes but who gives a toss.
What it actually did was weaken the Jedi so much that the rest could be wiped out, and the Galaxy belong to the Emperor MWAHAHAHAHA!
If you REALLY want something from the prequels that makes no sense, "There are heroes on both sides" - WHAT? I'd love to know who the heroes were out of an army of robots led by the Sith!
That was Lucas' way of saying that there are heroes on both sides of the current war. He's a big lefty. He probably pictures al-quida guys blowing up kids and US soldiers and thinks of it as heroic.
Ooohkaaay...I think you might be taking it a wee bit too far there.
But Lucas' lefty-ness certaintly DID muck up his ability to write Star Wars, which is simplistic space opera, not complex metaphorical geopolitics (that's Star Trek, at least when it's good). Unless you are willing to agree with George Bush's manichean views of good vs evil, you have no place even attempting to write Star Wars and I don't care if you OWN Star Wars.
In Star Trek, it's okay and even preferable for us to understand that Klingons, Cardassians, the Dominion and even the Borg to all have their own motives for their behavior and that nobody is eternally good or evil. But you cannot have a Dark and Light side of the Force where the Dark side is ummmm just sorta grey. You've destroyed the entire premise of Star Wars by doing that! If the Dark and Light side weren't involved in the war Lucas was talking about (and I found it all too boring to even pay attention), then it's irrelevant to the core conflict of Star Wars.
Now you went and got me riled up again, just as I was getting over how much Lucas sucks!
Maybe I should actually address the topic?
You're right. It makes no sense. Especially in warfare, any society that values its people would make far greater use of artificial intelligence and robotics for the fighting - the Fed equivalent of the disposable Jem'hadar. It's just one of those artificial things we're expected to accept because war isn't dramatically interesting unless it counts when the combatants die.
Right, so since the writers would be forced to give them the same value as humans, why not just stick with humans to begin with?
And the Cylons never had a plan. Wotta frakken joke.
