The anthroform thread got me to thinking. We have good computers with excellent programs. We have the groundwork for anthroform drones. We have Semi-autonomous knowbots and more AIs than ever before. We have the tech to make the artificial look and feel like real flesh (non-obvious cyberlimbs). I swear we're going to have full conversion borgs any day now (put a brain in a drone that it dedicated-rigs, heck why not).

How long before you can get a fully artificial escort, guarenteed 100% disease free and willing to do anything to please you? How long before shadowrunners show up to a meet and later realize that the reason their J seems to have ice-water in his veins is that he doesn't have a pulse. How long before players get chased by fully robotic security guards who are faster, stronger, better shots, and have no fear?

Actually, that last one I'm not really looking forward to. I like difficult, not a TPK.

Just saying.

p.88, Runner Havens.

also, iirc, there was something of this nature in one of the old SOTA books or something, i seem to recall hearing...

I doubt the pleasure bots will sell very well. A tube of trode-paste and a fully functional VR girlfriend will be a lot cheaper, easier to clean, and can have higher program ratings than anything running on autosofts. It'll also be able to change shape into anything your freaky little heart desires rather than require the purchase of a new robot every time you get a new hankering.

It's a niche thing. For folks who get simsense vertigo. Or folks with a robot fetish.

Right, which is why it won't sell well (at least not compared to the alternative). You can still make money on it, it just won't be oodles and oodles of money hand over fist. For people that demand real world sex persona fixed runaways are cheaper than drones. For people that are ok with virtual sex, programs are cheaper. Basically you're looking at people who have moral qualms about prostitution and can't get laid without it, or have some sort of kink that makes a robot better than a person.

except that the robot can also take care of all the household chores, be your bodyguard, and within reason can change appearance (a simple holo projector should do the trick adequately, it takes a perception + intuition (2) test to notice it as fake... which means that unless you're observing in detail, you are probably defaulting (-1) on a perception test while not observing in detail (so -2) and are therefore likely taking a -3 dice pool on a test where your starting dicepool is 2 or 3...)

of course, changing how it feels is a bit more tricky, but i would expect some limited changes are possible. smart materials are getting smarter all the time, after all

Basically, you want to build Guri.

Hmm..

I have no pleasure bots in my Shadowy version of St. Louis, but I do have "droid" bartenders at some swanky clubs and in the homes of a few wealthy private citizens. Anthroform butlers are still a rarity and expensive, but possible.

But sex droids?

Interesting. I've honestly never considered it because of the rampant sex trade in both reality and the Matrix - I figured that would feed most of the appetites of the deviants in my little world. This .. this is like bunraku without the guilt, where's the fun in that?

If I want a bodyguard/servant who is also usable for sex, I''d install some combat cyber in my brainwashed slavegirl and send her to culinary school on weekends. There is little reason for robots when flesh-slaves are better in every possible way and the UCAS Constitution doesn't have a Thirteenth Amendment (or rather, it does, but not one that prohibits slavery).

Yes, they started them in Third, but I havn't seen them used in Fourth yet. And let's get away from the sex for a second. (Not that I don't like it...) Security guards and soldiers that aren't a PR problem when they get messily blown up? Remote rigging so people can have bodies (that look however you want them too) from half way around the world? It'd take a bit of the personal risk out of some shadowruns (although you'd still have to worry about the expense of losing a SotA toy and signal jamming). Hell, who's to say the shadowruns couldn't be performed by bots with the right 'softs? All the results, more capability, none of the lip, and cheap as free after the initial investment.

I'm seeing a change in the near future of Shadowrun. A big one. I'm not sure that I like it. (I'm not sure I dislike it, either.)

Softs hit rating 4 at the highest, and don't get specialization. While there are definitely some advantages to drones, mostly in the area of not dying and inhuman senses, there are also disadvantages. They're not smart enough to react to unknown situations, can be jammed, don't have the skill or Edge necessary to overcome a lot of obstacles, and are usually a lot more fragile than a well armored human (let alone troll).

I don't see bots replacing runners any time soon. Never unless they can overcome the rating 4 limit for autosofts.

...for the pre-programmed love bunny, One Name: Tyrell Corp.

...Better than Human

Genetech has to seen some improvement in 6 years.

For the Droid Bartender, I picture the one from spaceport scene in The Fifth Element.

Yeah, but I think most uses for robots in security and running are already handled by standard drones, which are generally more versatile than anthroform robots. If anthroform technology reaches the point where the right softs can let a drone/robot impersonate a metahuman then that could open all sorts of doors, but I don't know if we're there yet.

I want tech to be at that point though, so I can stat up my next rigger.

Well, let's do a little test-build:

Let's pretend the OS for our example robot (let's call him Tobor) is Novatech Navi (even though Tobor would probably have something fiercer than that. That gives him a System/Pilot rating of 4. Let's pretend Tobor has all the Autosofts he'll ever need. Even if he can only use a certain amount of them at a time, let's assume he has them all.

Let's pretend that Tobor is essentially a Steel Lynx in biped shape. I'm having trouble finding Body-to-Size ratios, but I've always thought of a Steel Lynx as working out to the size of a person, just shorter and wider.

So, Tobor has a Body of 4 (The same as the example Street Sam, pg. 101), an Armor of 9 (Or 9/9), about the same, average as Full Body Armor without a helmet, Rolls 8 dice to shoot any weapon ever invented (or that anyone has ever made an autosoft for). Also, Tobor can hack as well as someone with maxed Cracking Group and the best off-the-shelf equipment. On top of that, he has 3 Init passes (either from being a program or from having Wired Reflexes/Drive-by-Wire, your choice). I don't know if Tobor could be counted as having an Agility, but if he did, we could probably Autosoft/Skillsoft him some Infiltration at 4 (his Pilot) or 5 (Maxed out Skillwires level). Because I don't want to find out what it is, I'll assume the lower, which is that he rolls Pilot+Infiltration Autosoft for 8 dice. That's one short of the covert ops specialist on pg. 91.

Besides that, Tobor doesn't need to breath, eat or sleep. He's not effected by gasses, or poisons. He probably doesn't have as much of a heat signature as his meat counterpart. And he can probably cram all kinds of gizmos in him, from a latex face maker and fingerprink maker, to gecko tape hands, to monofiliment chainsaw and extra weapons. Oh, and chameleon suit, much?

So, as a Johnson, you're telling me that I can have a team of reasonably sharp shooters skilled in everything that hacks as well as most Shadowrunner Hackers, sneaks like a Cover Op Specialist, won't have questions of loyalty, and I can re-use more or less indefinably (barring mishaps) for only a one-time payment, and the only meat I have to pay is the mage and someone to make sure their programming doesn't jump the rails and they do the job? And those last two could be the same person?

I'm just saying.

Or, let's take a new Example: Robbie the Robot.

Robbie has the same body as Tobor, but a custom built head. His System/Pilot is 6. For matters of Autosofts, Robbie rolls 12 dice. So he hacks at 12 dice, shoots at 12 dice, slices, dices, and cooks julienne fries at 13 (Robbies Knife Hands count as Superior Tools for cooking.) For matters of Skillsofts/Actisofts, Robbie rolls 10 dice.

So he shoots and hacks at 12 dice, while sneaking and fast-talking at 10 dice? And he has a changeable face when he's not using his sexy brush aluminum casing? Does he vibrate, too?

You're giving him a lot more than he can have. For instance, what autosofts allow for hacking? Drones can't use skillsofts, and can't have skillwires. They're vehicles, not people.

"In game terms, the Pilot attribute stands in for Computer, Cybercombat, Data Search, and Hacking skills, as called for." SR3 pg. 214.

And while I'll concede that drones can't use skill wires, I was using them as best analogy for how well built one could expect to find programs for tasks as performed by a humanoid. I realize it's not exactly RAW, but if you have the programming (in the form of Skillsofts) and you have all the right physical parts...

Just because they're in canon doesn't mean they make sense.

Yeah, if you lose a runner you hired you're probably out nothing but time (and possibly secrecy). If you lose a 150,000 drone you'll be lucky to just get fired.

ugh, i should never have visited the realdoll site. whenever people bring up these kinds of topics i get flashbacks...

Not if the droid was bought from the same black coffers as a shadowrunner.

Yeah, but wouldn't Mr. J rather blow those black coffers on real alcohol and hookers from the trendy hotspot he schedules his meets at?

But won't my Ally spirit get jealous that I am cheating on it with something non etherial

Damn good points.

Whenever people mention robot runners I always ask myself the following question, would I really want to have a teamate who could be hacked to believe that I was the target in the middle of a run?

*Edit*

Hell, as a Johnson would I want to hire one?

Well, presumely the drones are being controled by the team's Rigger, and hopefully he's doing his job at keeping them secure. I was under the impression that we were talking about robots replacing runners, IE no Riggers.

Then they would be safe because all they would have to do is disable all wireless connections.

And then they wouldn't be able to hack, which was one of the abilities that was brought up.

Also considering that drones don't get to use Edge, well, that means that if their ( Rating 4-6 ) dogbrain and Auto-softs aren't enough then they can't reach deep and pull victory from the flaming jaws of hell.

Hell, I figure that there isn't really any reason that your "love doll" couldn't upload itself into the Matrix to engauge in some VR sex either so you could have the best of both worlds.

Who ever said the droid would need to be wireless? I'm not talking about anthroform drones. I'm talking about machines capable of making their own decisions (within a set of parameters) and possibly taking their orders the old fashioned way: verbally.

I want my Cherry 2000!