[X] My Assistant

[Jack Kain]

Have you ever wondered why they don't have humanoid drones?
Concidering the technological level in shadowrun, a drone in the form of a human would be quite possible

A humanoid drone could be built to run, climb, jump. Its shape would allow it to use vehicles normally reserved for humans. In terms of combat it could use the same guns that humans do. Load up the right program for the right weapon.
You could build one under the shell of say troll sized heavy combat armor.

They wouldn't have a drones vehicle speed but they can use vehicles. (might need to be specially made with the weight and all.

Rotory Drones can't go inside and most wheeled or tread drones have problems with stairs. Because it can be programed to use normal tools you don't have the mess of instailing them and uninstailing them as needed just hand them the tool and load in the proper program.

[Rotbart van Dain...]

[Kesslan]

[Jack Kain]

I've only played 4th edition shadowrun. So sorry I just wasn't aware just felt like something they'd at least mention in the main rule book.

[Wakshaani]

RoxBots for the win. :)

[Fortune]

Nah ... I want a Cherry 2000. :D

[Jack Kain]

[Sir_Psycho]

Nothing like a ghost in the shell 2 psychotic possessed robot prostitute.

[Pthgar]

Anthroform Drones (SR3 term) Are great for specialized applications and it is very tempting to use them in combat for their flexibility (as the OP mentioned) but I think that they have a few problems not really addressed in even in the SR3 rules.

-Complexity- ADs transmission of motive power are very prone to breaking down. There are a lot joints and motors and therefor a lot of failure points. In addition, all this is overhead as far as cargo space goes. You can't cram in as much stuff.

-Endurance- Wheels are simply more efficient in terms of power consumption. Tracks less so, but they have other offsetting benefits, see below. Plus legs as locomotion are slower and have a lower power to weight ratio.

-Stability- ADs will be subject to at least as much, if not more knockdown, as PCs and NPCs. A drone on wheels can tip over but it is much more difficult, more so with a tracked drone. The center of gravity is lower and the base is wider.

-Control- The amount of processing that has to be devoted to humanoid locomotion is greater than what has to be used for wheels. This eats into any other programs you might like to run (like Gunnery). You can offset this with more processing systems, but then you run into the cargo space problem.

All that taken into account, I think wheeled or tracked drones will continue to be a more appealing solution to combat or hazardous duty needs. ADs (and all legged transmissions) will have very specific duties where only they can perform.

There may be a few combat ADs but they are akin to Special Forces in drone terms. This might actually make it more likely for a shadowrunner to run into one in the course of their career as most shadow types do non-standard things. I can think of a few instances where a rigger in full control of an anthroform would be very useful.

Deus doesn't count. It was an anomaly.

[Sir_Psycho]

Well, I strongly doubt Deus is the last of his kind. He may be the last of the wired generation AI's, but it will happen again, I think.

I think AD's would make great Maitre De's.

[Pthgar]