These establishments go by a variety of names: “charging salon,” “service shop,” “recharge station,” and the like, including apparently limitless permutations. I still call them cafés because, in use, that’s what they are. A place away from home base to recover, recharge, meet, congregate, chat, share information. It’s still a challenge to find refreshments suitable for myself— typically I must make do with water (sometimes cooled by a peltier chiller) but news is spreading and occasionally I’m surprised by… hot water! I spotted this individual the next table over devoting all of their processing power to a small book. I had no idea what was in the cup and didn’t want to disturb them to ask.
After a short while the robot found that it began to anticipate the time it spent in the greenhouse. It dedicated much processing time to the observation of the unpredictable fractal growth of the plants in its care.
I’m going to need a bigger bag. Along with my Copic markers and various cameras, I decided to get a small Sakura Koi watercolor set so I could employ watercolor effects when documenting my observations among the robots.
The robots were engaged in what the humans called “playing chicken.” The outcome was still uncertain. But the robots had several advantages: their metal and composite structures were much stronger than flesh and bone, and data had just been backed up to remote storage. “Lead foot, indeed,” one robot declared. “Mine is titanium and scandium with polycarbon sub-structure!” The internal combustion engines roared with a squeal of tires…