[Osserc]

Ok i might be missing something but none of the shadowrun book i have read seam to have androids/humanoid  drones in them is this suming that was over looked or was it on Purposes ??
considering what is in shadowrun like dones and benraku parlors,cyberware  i find odd that ardroids have been left out can any one shed sum light on this
as i wanted to use them in a up coming Misson i am going to run

[Reaver]

Renraku Arcology.

'Nuff said.

[Herr Brackhaus]

Stolen Souls has the Renraku Manservamt-3 drone, which is a bipedal drone that is (supposedly) limited in many ways to prevent something like the Arcology event from being quite as bad.

SR4s Arsenal also had a few other humanoid drones, mostly combat models but also an infiltrator with the Mimic option, which gave it real flesh and blood. I believe other book (This Old Drone?) had additional models.

Hopefully, this is something that gets brought back in SR5, as the Pilot Walker skill is currently somewhat specialized.

[Novocrane]

Renraku Arcology.

'Nuff said.

It's been said, but last I checked, Deus was quite happy building nightmare fuel robots, and had no particular ties to humanoid shapes. So why is it a thing? More specifically, why is it a thing when it's only really Seattle that has the phobia, and other parts of the world actually make bipedal humanoid anthroform drones?

[Triskavanski]

We totally need mascot type robots.

[Reaver]

Renraku Arcology.

'Nuff said.

It's been said, but last I checked, Deus was quite happy building nightmare fuel robots, and had no particular ties to humanoid shapes. So why is it a thing? More specifically, why is it a thing when it's only really Seattle that has the phobia, and other parts of the world actually make bipedal humanoid anthroform drones?

Don't forget, Deus was also "rigging" people and using that "rig" to turn them into controlled attack units as well, and he was mucking around with imprints of his code on people's brain's (for re-assemblement later, on the matrix)

Then there are the practical side of things.

The Humanoid form is not really the best form for a lot of the everyday tasks that we have to do.  We are either too tall, or our center of balance is not correct. Or we are too fragile, too thick, too small, etc etc etc.
When you look at the Human body, what you are actually seeing is hundreds of muscles and tendons connected to 206 bones to provide our locomotion, and even at that, it is limited. When you move this to a mechanical form... well, things get a little tricky. When a person walks at a normal gait, they are using over 150 muscles in 8 major core areas to provide the locomotion and balance needed to actually walk... something that is very hard to do in Robots... and why do at all when a wheeled or tracked form of locomotion is easier, faster, cheaper, and has less parts and maintenance. Then, there is the little fact about weight. All those servos and pistons to simulate a humanoid walk weight something, and require maintenance, not to mention energy...... Suddenly a device that could have been relatively light and small, and cheap is extra expensive, heavy and costly to maintain, all for humanoid locomotion.


When you are designing a "robot" you do it for the task that it is meant to do. What exactly is a humanoid robot doing to "do better" then just about any other chassis of robot? Want it to put things away on the top shelf? A box shaped base is way more stable then 2 little feet, allowing the box shape to lift more higher and further then a human shaped robot. Need something from down low? again the box shaped robot with an are can easily reach in and get the item, while the humanoid robot has to stoop down, or even get on its knees to reach.


We have been building robots right now for over 50 years, and the Humanoid form has never been developed past the "novelty" stage.

[Herr Brackhaus]

Yet we are still trying, Reaver. That should tell you something, if the canon usage of humanoid drones from previous editions doesn't do it for you.

[Novocrane]

Don't forget, Deus was also [rigging people, imprinting code, etc].

We have been building robots right now for over 50 years, and the Humanoid form has never been developed past the "novelty" stage.

Eh. That should mean ... well, the existing phobia for technomancers should be where it's already at. Go figure.

There are humanoid drones from cheap (Tan Dem, Manservant, Duellist, etc) all the way up to cyborg models like the Otomo. I wouldn't back the difficulty angle too much, either.

[farothel]

The only reason I see for humanoid robots is that they can use tools shaped for humans.  that way you don't have to build a specific robot for each task, but they can use the tools that have already been developed for humans to do the task.  And if it's really needed, a human operator can take over the tools, which isn't possible if you have a tool-shaped robot instead of a robot operating a tool.

[Pixie]

If you want to know why we aren't developing androids and realistic robots in Shadowrun, read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

[Mirikon]

If you go back to 4th edition, there are several humanoid drones you can convert over. As for why there aren't many humanoid drones around, Deus's drones aren't really the issue. It falls down to the difference between Versatility and Specialization. The humanoid form is a very versatile 'platform'. You can traverse lots of different environments better than tracked or wheeled drones, and can maneuver cramped spaces better than flying drones. You can carry arms and armor, perform maintenance, and do any number of other tasks. As such, if you want a 'generalist' drone, you could do a lot worse than a humanoid form.

On the other hand, specialized drones benefit from being able to focus on their role. Combat drones are optimized to carry weapons. Wheeled or flying drones can be much faster than walkers. Surveillance drones can get to areas where a walker might not be able to, either due to size or movement modes. And, more importantly, specialized drones means people have to buy more drones, rather than having a 'catchall'.

That said, there are some examples of humanoid drones in SR. Other than 'helper' drones like the Manservant, the majority of them fall into the realm of dedicated cyborg bodies, which means they're hard to get and ungodly expensive. Otherwise, there is the Ares Duelist (a dedicated blade-wielding drone) and the TAN-DEM from SR4's MilSpec Tech 2 book, which is basically a security drone with a gun for one of its hands, and isn't very useful outside of that role. By far, the most useful humanoid drone I've seen is the Nadeshiko from SR4's Rigger 4 book. Yes, it was a 'joke' product, but the Nadeshiko is still a great drone for anyone who wants to have a few drones that look like metahumans.

But there's only a few reasons for someone to have a humanoid drone that actually looks like a person:

1) They are trying to hide the fact that they're using a drone. This could be an AI or cyborg's main body, and they want to fit in with everyone else, or someone who uses their 'Doombot' to keep the <s>Fantastic Four</s>runners from capturing them when their plans are foiled.
2) Loyal security that doesn't look like "Oh, drek, he brought a half dozen combat drones with him!"
3) Pervy reasons.
4) Some combination of the above.