Dan Fixes Coin-Ops on Nostr: Turn-of-the-century robot hoovers are like 90's pinball machines. A Williams pinball ...

Turn-of-the-century robot hoovers are like 90's pinball machines. A Williams pinball game can detect that half its playfield switches haven't been hit all week and one flipper is just dead, but does it stop taking coins and starting games? Does it bollocks! Taking money is its job! And when the tech comes along to empty the cash box, when he opens the coin door it goes bong-bong-bong-bong-bong and then presents a list of everything that it thinks is wrong with it. But if you go "That's nice, back to earning money" and close the coin door, it says "Right you are boss" and gives you a snappy salute with a hand with one and a half remaining fingers.

This is why I treasure my old 500-series roombas, they keep going until they Literally Can't. Compare that with, say, inkjet printers that refuse to print if they think the ink might be getting low even if it isn't.

Some machines are made to do the job and keep doing it until it's absolutely impossible to even attempt. Some machines just look for excuses.