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I just woke up from a dream where I had my robots designing and building new blog websites for me according to the blueprints that I had designed. When I woke up, I couldn't help but wonder if there could be a way to actually do this using a device similar to the doc's portable holographic emitter that he wore on his arm (in Star Trek: Voyager) that allowed him to go anywhere outside of sick bay. In this case, the device in Factorio could be called a remote Roboport.

This would define a new class of bots on the Internet if it could be done!

best dream ever

I already started with drones. Once I know enough, I will be playing with programmable drones, so just wait a few years

SceneKing wrote:I just woke up from a dream where I had my robots designing and building new blog websites for me according to the blueprints that I had designed. When I woke up, I couldn't help but wonder if there could be a way to actually do this using a device similar to the doc's portable holographic emitter that he wore on his arm (in Star Trek: Voyager) that allowed him to go anywhere outside of sick bay. In this case, the device in Factorio could be called a remote Roboport.

This would define a new class of bots on the Internet if it could be done!

I was under the impression that the mobile emitter was itself a piece of future tech that Voyager recovered from an incident involving time travel. Without that he could only appear in key areas of the ship that had been equipped with the necessary emitters for him to function properly. Similarly, in the episode where he meets his maker, the laboratory would have been similarly equipped with stationary emitters to support his program needs.

However, I think your dream is a lot closer to reality than you think. Today's bots already do a fine job of scraping content off of other sites and reposting it in a somewhat sensible manner. Not only that, but industrially more and more pieces of equipment are intelligent enough to manufacture components directly off of the relevant CAD files and no longer require a programming expert to convert the blueprint to a part program for the machine to use.

Its only a matter of time until entire assemblies can be created by just supplying recipe, raw material, and carrying away the finished product with no human involvement from concept to delivery.

If you don't mind leaving your computer running while you're away (hell, most people do this already anyways,) there's kind of an in-between solution for you, but it will require you to leave the game running while the bots build.

1-) Install Google Remote Desktop (GRD) on you phone AND on your PC. This is a VNC application to provide you lightweight (small, unobtrusive program,) streamlined remote access to your PC from anywhere you can use your phone.

2-) Set up/reconfigure a proper robotics network, and make sure the logistics/construction areas of the roboports are properly connected across the entire area that you will be building in.

3-) Lay down a veritable smorgasbord of blueprints within your now completed Robosphere™. Make sure you have ample chests of supplies hooked up to your network for the robots to build with. Turn everything on and let the robots get to buildin'.

4-) GTFO. Go to work, or out with your friends, or whatever it is you THINK is more important than playing Factorio.

5-) Use GRD to periodically check the progress of your construction bots. You can also save the game, or if the robots have completed everything you wanted them to, exit the game and/or shut down your computer.


So, it's not a built-in function, requires 3rd-party applications, computer has to be running Factorio, and your base must be able to defend/repair/maintain itself without user input. However, it DOES enable you to, with some minor preparation, leave your house for long amounts of time and then come back to a MASSIVELY improved and expanded base

The main thing holding back real life construction bots and a lot of future technology is terrible battery capacity. If battery life were to double tomorrow, we'd have industrial drones I think.

huwp wrote:The main thing holding back real life construction bots and a lot of future technology is terrible battery capacity. If battery life were to double tomorrow, we'd have industrial drones I think.

Probably not. Our computers still aren't quite smart enough. Though we have had pick and place bots for years and drone delivery services are in development that would behave similar to logistics bots. But bots capable of building things by themselves don't exist just yet, they still rely on humans to direct them and to deal with the immense variability that comes with installation of an assembled piece of machinery.