* Posts by Cornrat

2 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Jul 2015

Asimov's ghost! Oil and gas rigs could be taken over by robots

Cornrat

Finger-tapping!

Can someone tell me the title of an Asimov story in which the supervisors of a team of ore-mining robots were baffled when the robots suddenly stopped working and instead marched forwards and backwards. It took some outside observer (probably someone that Asimov identified with) to explain such weird behaviour: the controlling computer was 'tapping its fingers' whilst trying to solve a problem!

Comet-invader Philae goes silent, mothership Rosetta forced to retreat

Cornrat

Reaction to action

I'm not surprised that the harpoons re-launched Philae from the comet's surface; better, surely, to have had upward-facing (away from comet) cylinders (containing compressed hydrogen) attached to the landing struts. On landing, valves would open allowing the gas to be released, thereby ensuring that Philae remained on the comet's surface.