Allow smart inserters to add and remove robots from roboport

[factoriouzr]

I have searched the forums and couldn't find a topic about this. Maybe there is something else already posted about this or something similar and I want to apologize if I'm posting duplicate information.

Issue:
Currently there is no way to add and remove robots from any roboport automatically to keep a fixed count of logistics and construction robots in the network or upgrade robots if a mod (eg. Bob's) adds new types of robots.

Suggested Solution:
Allow smart inserters to be able filter on the counts of all robot types currently in the entire network just like they do on the logistics network items in storage, passive and active providers.

Suggested use:
Put down a smart inserter next to any roboport in the network you want to work with and put a condition on the smart inserter such as logistics-robot < 500 and face the inserter towards the roboport (so it inserts into it). Then put a requester chest in front of the inserter and request say 10 logistics robots. Now the inserter will make sure to add robots if the count goes below 500. We can also do the opposite with another smart inserter with a condition of logistics-robot > 500 and face the inserter towards an active(or passive) provider chest. these two inserters will keep the robot count at the exact number desired. The same can be done with construction robots by duplicating this setup and changing logistics to construction robots.

An additional enhancement that would be great to this feature is if the smart inserter's condition is met for removing robots but there are none in the roboport it's attached to, then the exact number of robots it wants to remove are requested to dock at the roboport so that they can be removed.

The obvious first use of this would be to make sure that you always keep a minimum number of construction robots in the network and as long as you are producing them in factories (I mean the game is about automation ), and you have the necessary raw resources, you never have to worry about not having construction robots to repair and replace damaged building and the biters getting into your base.

Another advantage of this is that for mods such as Bob's Mods which adds more types of robots, you can easily upgrade them in an automatic way using this approach. Just set the maximum construction robots to keep to 0 (so they will all be removed) and set the other inserter to insert construciton robots mk2 (etc).

Thanks

[daniel34]

Related topics:
Control the amount robots - https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =6&t=12644
Remove from roboports - https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... php?t=8698
Distribution of robots - https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=8925

[factoriouzr]

Thanks for the related post links.

[ssilk]

There is also a mod I begun now to use and I think it is "the right way" to do it with Factorio: https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... 93&t=15313

[bobingabout]

Inserters can already add robots to a roboport. The fact that they can't remove them is often a "Why not?" question...

I personally think that if an inserter can place items into a roboport, they should also be able to remove them from it, no exceptions. The smart inserter can be used to control how many are removed/inserted and when.

[UberWaffe]

Perhaps a special form of signal combinator that specifically monitors bots in roboports and in flight?
It would a specialized in that regard, so giving it more options such as "bots waiting to charge", "bots in use", "bots idle", etc. could be useful.

At the very least I'd find it useful to wire up such a combinator to some red lights (and alarms?) as well, making them blare angrily if more than 25% of my bots are all waiting to be charged. (I.e. since it means I have to plonk down some more charging ports.)

The point being, I think a combinator would be more useful, since it can be hooked up to more than a smart inserter.

[Chess]

Have you tried to do it with bob's robochest? I think i tried that and it worked but now you are making me doubt...

[ssilk]

Inserters can already add robots to a roboport. The fact that they can't remove them is often a "Why not?" question...

Have you ever tried that in 0.12? Obviously not.

What we need is here just something to "call" the available bots to a roboport, then we can put them with an (smart) inserter into a chest.

[factoriouzr]

Inserters can already add robots to a roboport. The fact that they can't remove them is often a "Why not?" question...

Have you ever tried that in 0.12? Obviously not.

What we need is here just something to "call" the available bots to a roboport, then we can put them with an (smart) inserter into a chest.

I think calling x number of robots of each type is part of the solution, but we still need a way to read the counts of each type of robot. I think reading the counts of each type of robot fits perfectly in factorio's design philosophy. Look at the filters on inserters for example. You specify the type of object (construction robot mk 1, logistics robot mk1, green circuit, green science pack, etc), then the comparison (< = >) and then the count

[OdinYggd]

Inserters can already add robots to a roboport. The fact that they can't remove them is often a "Why not?" question...

Have you ever tried that in 0.12? Obviously not.

What we need is here just something to "call" the available bots to a roboport, then we can put them with an (smart) inserter into a chest.

I think calling x number of robots of each type is part of the solution, but we still need a way to read the counts of each type of robot. I think reading the counts of each type of robot fits perfectly in factorio's design philosophy. Look at the filters on inserters for example. You specify the type of object (construction robot mk 1, logistics robot mk1, green circuit, green science pack, etc), then the comparison (< = >) and then the count

This functionality was added in Factorio 0.13 and is also in 0.14. Change the circuit connection mode from logi network contents to bot statistics, and it gives you a set of 4 circuit signals representing available and total bots for each type.

Ever since I've had inserters rigged to automatically add bots to my network whenever less than a certain number of them is available, allowing the network to slowly grow over time.

You could of course remove bots over time as well, but to date I have yet to encounter a situation where this would be to any advantage to do.