Why Does Not Starfleet Use Drones?

[Nebusj]

Timo said:
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.

Honestly, if you've got a teleporter, force fields, and replicator -- and we see from direct evidence that by the 24th century we do and that they're available to every room (the force fields are part of the fire suppression system, and thus can get at all the places oxygen can), what do you need the droid for? The ability to take, adjust, replace, or repair anything in the room is already part of the room. All the droid contributes is the chipper voice mannerisms of Mel Blanc.

 

[Unicron]

Some of the emphasis on the droid armies (particularly the Trade Federation's) is elaborated on in offscreen material. The TF was managed by the Neimodians, and their culture weeds out the weak at a young age. Those who survive to become adults learn to be greedy and conservative, and will not directly endanger themselves if they can send others to fight for them. Hence why the TF built large numbers of droids, and contributed more to the Confederacy during the Clone Wars. Not only did the Neimodians not have to risk their skins, but they could make a profit selling their armies to other powers.

 

[Navaros]

The Federation produces it's own drones by magically "convincing" normal humans to do all their horrible menial label tasks for free. Why would they need to make robot drones when they have already established a perfect brainwashing method that accomplishes the same result, and according to Picard, works on every human being.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Temis the Vorta said:

And the Cylons never had a plan. Wotta frakken joke.

Sure they did. The final cylons are Faceman, BA, Howling Mad Murdock and Hannibal Smith. Who loves it when a plan comes together.

 

[timmy84]

I think despite all the computer advances the Federation had, it just boils down to the fact that Federation scientists were never able to make an adaptive program capable of dealing with most situations.

Thats why Data was so valuable. Starfleet wanted to build an army of androids but every attempt had failed (um, despite all the androids and robots built outside of the Federation during the 23rd century).

If we look at the only on screen example of artificial labor within the Federation, the hologram miner, they all exist within a central computer. One that requires allot of power just to operate their processes, not just projecting their physical form. Federation computers are advance, but AI is more advance (at least, within the show).

Lets not forget that when that one scientist that took over Data's body transferred himself into the Enterprise computer, his personality was destroyed. The computer couldn't handle it. How can one built into a mobile platform be able to make the calculations of who is an enemy and when exactly the mission is accomplished.

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

Timo said:I mean robots that stay out of sight of the live crew because that's what is both aesthetically pleasing and efficient.

Timo Saloniemi

A cunning explanation, as ever, I like it.

Although in one episode, Riker did mention the use of nanobots for cleaning the Enterprise, they were also suggested as an offensive measure against the Borg so the Federation must be familiar with them to a certain degree.

But as we all know, the real reason why the Feds don't have robots is that their pesky engineers keep giving them sentience and they have be be made free else the Federation will end up as slave owners. Why they haven't done away with the equally temperamental holodeck is beyond me, perhaps the "erotic" simulations make up for not having to hose out a droid every week

 

[Timo]

I think despite all the computer advances the Federation had, it just boils down to the fact that Federation scientists were never able to make an adaptive program capable of dealing with most situations.

Thats why Data was so valuable. Starfleet wanted to build an army of androids but every attempt had failed (um, despite all the androids and robots built outside of the Federation during the 23rd century).

That's why I find this line of reasoning somewhat unsatisfactory. The fact is, Starfleet or the Federation didn't think much of Data. They showed dismally little interest in him, and only one scientist saw any merit in examining him more closely. The courtroom argument that this scientist was seeking for robot armies was facetious - its only purpose was reductio ad absurdum, an attemt to gain the sympathies of the judge by pointing out a potential danger several parsecs down the line. Once the matter was solved, Data again faded to complete obscurity, nobody thinking it necessary to study him further or stop him from becoming an unethical robot army. The only people who found value in him as an android were collectors of rare items for their sheer rarity, or enemies intent on exploiting a weak link. His colleagues simply valued him for being a friend and a good chap overall.

This would all make sense if Data were a mere tinkertoy, a novelty item cobbled together from state-of-the-art technologies much like some of today's robotic toys. Sure, he'd be advanced - but few of his components would be particularly so. Sure, he'd be an AI - but no better an AI than the assorted non-android models out there. Sure, the positronic brain would be a breakthrough - but only in the sense of enabling the cramming of a standard, highish-grade AI into an android body, an effort that people other than Soong did not consider worthy of their time. Soong might have done it because he really, really wanted androids when everybody else thought that self-cleaning starships were a better use for robotics. Or Soong might have done it simply because it was the only efficient way to arrange for a flashy public demonstration if his new positronics.

The EMH is a similar case of an advanced AI being treated as utterly mundane and scientifically uninteresting. It's not that the Feds don't have this technology: it's that they don't consider it worthy of attention.

Timo Saloniemi