Story about a paralysed man making self replicating robot arms?











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A man creates robot arms to manipulate the world as he is disabled. The arms created larger and larger arms and smaller and smaller arms so they can perform gigantic and microscopic tasks? Any idea what story this is from?










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A man creates robot arms to manipulate the world as he is disabled. The arms created larger and larger arms and smaller and smaller arms so they can perform gigantic and microscopic tasks? Any idea what story this is from?










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A man creates robot arms to manipulate the world as he is disabled. The arms created larger and larger arms and smaller and smaller arms so they can perform gigantic and microscopic tasks? Any idea what story this is from?










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A man creates robot arms to manipulate the world as he is disabled. The arms created larger and larger arms and smaller and smaller arms so they can perform gigantic and microscopic tasks? Any idea what story this is from?







story-identification






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  • Welcome to Science Fiction & Fantasy! This question would be improved by going through the checklists here; How to ask a good story-ID question?
    – Valorum
    2 hours ago


















  • Welcome to Science Fiction & Fantasy! This question would be improved by going through the checklists here; How to ask a good story-ID question?
    – Valorum
    2 hours ago
















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2 Answers
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Odds are that this is Robert A. Heinlein's "Waldo"




Waldo Farthingwaite-Jones was born a weakling, unable even to lift his head up to drink or to hold a spoon. Far from destroying him, this channeled his intellect, and his family's money, into the development of the device patented as "Waldo F. Jones' Synchronous Reduplicating Pantograph". Wearing a glove and harness, Waldo could control a much more powerful mechanical hand simply by moving his hand and fingers. This and other technologies he develops make him a rich man, rich enough to build a home in space.



In the story, these devices became popularly known as "waldoes". In reference to this story, the real-life remote manipulators that were later developed also came to be called waldoes, some even by NASA. Later, an American company, The Character Shop, which creates animatronic devices and objects (often for motion pictures), obtained the trademark to Waldo for "data-capture input devices".




....




A typical illustration of the tools in the story is Waldo's handling of his need to perform micro-dissection on the scale of cellular walls. He uses human-sized waldoes to make smaller waldos, then uses those to make even smaller waldoes, and continues the series until he has waldoes small enough to work at the cellular scale.



There are three main factors involved in Heinlein's description of the tools:




  • They work like human hands: not with a single active lever or twenty different tools, but with components arranged and with actions like human hands. The operator puts his or her hands in "gloves" and the waldos repeat the movements of the hands.

  • They work in conjunction with viewing equipment that lets the user see the waldos as if they have the size and action of his own hands. This, in conjunction with the first factor, means that waldos are a "no-training" tool: if you know how to use your hands, you can use waldos.

  • They allow work to be done remotely, in the next room or many miles away, or in an environment that could kill a human or be contaminated by human presence. They can be a different size from normal human hands: either huge for building construction or tiny for micro-manipulation.







share|improve this answer





















  • If this is the correct answer, you can accept it by clicking on the checkmark by the voting buttons.
    – FuzzyBoots
    1 hour ago


















up vote
1
down vote













This sounds like Robert Heinlein's 'Waldo', a 1942 short story
about a character with some arm-strength problems (myasthenia
gravis is mentioned).






share|improve this answer





















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    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes








    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes








    up vote
    3
    down vote













    Odds are that this is Robert A. Heinlein's "Waldo"




    Waldo Farthingwaite-Jones was born a weakling, unable even to lift his head up to drink or to hold a spoon. Far from destroying him, this channeled his intellect, and his family's money, into the development of the device patented as "Waldo F. Jones' Synchronous Reduplicating Pantograph". Wearing a glove and harness, Waldo could control a much more powerful mechanical hand simply by moving his hand and fingers. This and other technologies he develops make him a rich man, rich enough to build a home in space.



    In the story, these devices became popularly known as "waldoes". In reference to this story, the real-life remote manipulators that were later developed also came to be called waldoes, some even by NASA. Later, an American company, The Character Shop, which creates animatronic devices and objects (often for motion pictures), obtained the trademark to Waldo for "data-capture input devices".




    ....




    A typical illustration of the tools in the story is Waldo's handling of his need to perform micro-dissection on the scale of cellular walls. He uses human-sized waldoes to make smaller waldos, then uses those to make even smaller waldoes, and continues the series until he has waldoes small enough to work at the cellular scale.



    There are three main factors involved in Heinlein's description of the tools:




    • They work like human hands: not with a single active lever or twenty different tools, but with components arranged and with actions like human hands. The operator puts his or her hands in "gloves" and the waldos repeat the movements of the hands.

    • They work in conjunction with viewing equipment that lets the user see the waldos as if they have the size and action of his own hands. This, in conjunction with the first factor, means that waldos are a "no-training" tool: if you know how to use your hands, you can use waldos.

    • They allow work to be done remotely, in the next room or many miles away, or in an environment that could kill a human or be contaminated by human presence. They can be a different size from normal human hands: either huge for building construction or tiny for micro-manipulation.







    share|improve this answer





















    • If this is the correct answer, you can accept it by clicking on the checkmark by the voting buttons.
      – FuzzyBoots
      1 hour ago















    up vote
    3
    down vote













    Odds are that this is Robert A. Heinlein's "Waldo"




    Waldo Farthingwaite-Jones was born a weakling, unable even to lift his head up to drink or to hold a spoon. Far from destroying him, this channeled his intellect, and his family's money, into the development of the device patented as "Waldo F. Jones' Synchronous Reduplicating Pantograph". Wearing a glove and harness, Waldo could control a much more powerful mechanical hand simply by moving his hand and fingers. This and other technologies he develops make him a rich man, rich enough to build a home in space.



    In the story, these devices became popularly known as "waldoes". In reference to this story, the real-life remote manipulators that were later developed also came to be called waldoes, some even by NASA. Later, an American company, The Character Shop, which creates animatronic devices and objects (often for motion pictures), obtained the trademark to Waldo for "data-capture input devices".




    ....




    A typical illustration of the tools in the story is Waldo's handling of his need to perform micro-dissection on the scale of cellular walls. He uses human-sized waldoes to make smaller waldos, then uses those to make even smaller waldoes, and continues the series until he has waldoes small enough to work at the cellular scale.



    There are three main factors involved in Heinlein's description of the tools:




    • They work like human hands: not with a single active lever or twenty different tools, but with components arranged and with actions like human hands. The operator puts his or her hands in "gloves" and the waldos repeat the movements of the hands.

    • They work in conjunction with viewing equipment that lets the user see the waldos as if they have the size and action of his own hands. This, in conjunction with the first factor, means that waldos are a "no-training" tool: if you know how to use your hands, you can use waldos.

    • They allow work to be done remotely, in the next room or many miles away, or in an environment that could kill a human or be contaminated by human presence. They can be a different size from normal human hands: either huge for building construction or tiny for micro-manipulation.







    share|improve this answer





















    • If this is the correct answer, you can accept it by clicking on the checkmark by the voting buttons.
      – FuzzyBoots
      1 hour ago













    up vote
    3
    down vote










    up vote
    3
    down vote









    Odds are that this is Robert A. Heinlein's "Waldo"




    Waldo Farthingwaite-Jones was born a weakling, unable even to lift his head up to drink or to hold a spoon. Far from destroying him, this channeled his intellect, and his family's money, into the development of the device patented as "Waldo F. Jones' Synchronous Reduplicating Pantograph". Wearing a glove and harness, Waldo could control a much more powerful mechanical hand simply by moving his hand and fingers. This and other technologies he develops make him a rich man, rich enough to build a home in space.



    In the story, these devices became popularly known as "waldoes". In reference to this story, the real-life remote manipulators that were later developed also came to be called waldoes, some even by NASA. Later, an American company, The Character Shop, which creates animatronic devices and objects (often for motion pictures), obtained the trademark to Waldo for "data-capture input devices".




    ....




    A typical illustration of the tools in the story is Waldo's handling of his need to perform micro-dissection on the scale of cellular walls. He uses human-sized waldoes to make smaller waldos, then uses those to make even smaller waldoes, and continues the series until he has waldoes small enough to work at the cellular scale.



    There are three main factors involved in Heinlein's description of the tools:




    • They work like human hands: not with a single active lever or twenty different tools, but with components arranged and with actions like human hands. The operator puts his or her hands in "gloves" and the waldos repeat the movements of the hands.

    • They work in conjunction with viewing equipment that lets the user see the waldos as if they have the size and action of his own hands. This, in conjunction with the first factor, means that waldos are a "no-training" tool: if you know how to use your hands, you can use waldos.

    • They allow work to be done remotely, in the next room or many miles away, or in an environment that could kill a human or be contaminated by human presence. They can be a different size from normal human hands: either huge for building construction or tiny for micro-manipulation.







    share|improve this answer












    Odds are that this is Robert A. Heinlein's "Waldo"




    Waldo Farthingwaite-Jones was born a weakling, unable even to lift his head up to drink or to hold a spoon. Far from destroying him, this channeled his intellect, and his family's money, into the development of the device patented as "Waldo F. Jones' Synchronous Reduplicating Pantograph". Wearing a glove and harness, Waldo could control a much more powerful mechanical hand simply by moving his hand and fingers. This and other technologies he develops make him a rich man, rich enough to build a home in space.



    In the story, these devices became popularly known as "waldoes". In reference to this story, the real-life remote manipulators that were later developed also came to be called waldoes, some even by NASA. Later, an American company, The Character Shop, which creates animatronic devices and objects (often for motion pictures), obtained the trademark to Waldo for "data-capture input devices".




    ....




    A typical illustration of the tools in the story is Waldo's handling of his need to perform micro-dissection on the scale of cellular walls. He uses human-sized waldoes to make smaller waldos, then uses those to make even smaller waldoes, and continues the series until he has waldoes small enough to work at the cellular scale.



    There are three main factors involved in Heinlein's description of the tools:




    • They work like human hands: not with a single active lever or twenty different tools, but with components arranged and with actions like human hands. The operator puts his or her hands in "gloves" and the waldos repeat the movements of the hands.

    • They work in conjunction with viewing equipment that lets the user see the waldos as if they have the size and action of his own hands. This, in conjunction with the first factor, means that waldos are a "no-training" tool: if you know how to use your hands, you can use waldos.

    • They allow work to be done remotely, in the next room or many miles away, or in an environment that could kill a human or be contaminated by human presence. They can be a different size from normal human hands: either huge for building construction or tiny for micro-manipulation.








    share|improve this answer












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    answered 1 hour ago









    FuzzyBoots

    85.5k10264413




    85.5k10264413












    • If this is the correct answer, you can accept it by clicking on the checkmark by the voting buttons.
      – FuzzyBoots
      1 hour ago


















    • If this is the correct answer, you can accept it by clicking on the checkmark by the voting buttons.
      – FuzzyBoots
      1 hour ago
















    If this is the correct answer, you can accept it by clicking on the checkmark by the voting buttons.
    – FuzzyBoots
    1 hour ago




    If this is the correct answer, you can accept it by clicking on the checkmark by the voting buttons.
    – FuzzyBoots
    1 hour ago












    up vote
    1
    down vote













    This sounds like Robert Heinlein's 'Waldo', a 1942 short story
    about a character with some arm-strength problems (myasthenia
    gravis is mentioned).






    share|improve this answer

























      up vote
      1
      down vote













      This sounds like Robert Heinlein's 'Waldo', a 1942 short story
      about a character with some arm-strength problems (myasthenia
      gravis is mentioned).






      share|improve this answer























        up vote
        1
        down vote










        up vote
        1
        down vote









        This sounds like Robert Heinlein's 'Waldo', a 1942 short story
        about a character with some arm-strength problems (myasthenia
        gravis is mentioned).






        share|improve this answer












        This sounds like Robert Heinlein's 'Waldo', a 1942 short story
        about a character with some arm-strength problems (myasthenia
        gravis is mentioned).







        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered 1 hour ago









        Whit3rd

        23415




        23415






















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