Kino homing device

[Gollumpus]

Howdy.

From events of the last couple of episodes it occurs to me that the kinos should have had some sort of "Home" feature. This would allow a kino to return to the controlling hand device (and the person holding it) at a speed which would likely be faster than the person might be able to direct it, and possibly via a more direct route.

Just the time savings alone would make this a valuable feature, and it surprises me that such a thing was not built into the device... or perhaps it has not yet been discovered. Should this be the case, it seems to me that they are running out of time to discover new features on a device which is fairly basic (by Ancient standards) and also one which is being used very intensely.

regards,
G.

[Egle01]

From events of the last couple of episodes it occurs to me that the kinos should have had some sort of "Home" feature. This would allow a kino to return to the controlling hand device (and the person holding it) at a speed which would likely be faster than the person might be able to direct it, and possibly via a more direct route.

The kino does follow the remote.

[s09119]

The kino does follow the remote.

Then why was Eli unable to find it in "Human"?

[Egle01]

Then why was Eli unable to find it in "Human"?

The kino followed the remote in "Air", it was said in audio commentaries. My guess is that in "Human" the kino was either out of reach for that function to work or it wasn't smart enough to know which way to turn. It was a labyrinth, not a room with no walls.

[Gollumpus]

The kino followed the remote in "Air", it was said in audio commentaries. My guess is that in "Human" the kino was either out of reach for that function to work or it wasn't smart enough to know which way to turn. It was a labyrinth, not a room with no walls.

The kino is a recording device. It would have the path it took to get to a particular location within its memory. It might be stored only as: "go forward 100 meters, turn 90 degrees left, go forward 85.4 meters, turn right, etc", but it would be there. A user should be able to access this information and use it to backtrack that path. It may well be that this function has yet to be discovered...

It seems to me that a kino should itself be able to access stored information to back-track its path to a particular location, say the starting point. Also, using the information currently available in memory, it should be able to plot a direct path to that starting point, or perhaps the current location of the controlling remote, and not take the scenic route to get there, therefore saving time. All it would need would be some kind of homing pigeon feature. Further, it should be able to do this without the user actively directing the return. It should be as simple as hitting a "HOME" button and the device returns automatically.

How hard would it be to include a program that if the kino doesn't receive a signal (because it has gone past a certain distance, or maybe there is some sort of signal blocking from the environment) it will stop and reverse course until such time as it re-acquires a signal with the remote? It could then signal a request for instructions and proceed from there.

regards,
G.

[Zatnikitelman]

For a human-built device using real-world technology, you might put inertial sensors in each and be able to communicate to each other where the other is.

[escyos]

perhaps their is a homing function that eli doesnt know about

[Quadhelix]

IMO, perhaps the most useful form of "return home" function would be to have the Kino dial back to whatever planet the remote is on. That would come in handy if, for whatever reason, you didn't feel like following it through the 'Gate to recovered.

[garhkal]

IMO, perhaps the most useful form of "return home" function would be to have the Kino dial back to whatever planet the remote is on. That would come in handy if, for whatever reason, you didn't feel like following it through the 'Gate to recovered.

I can see that being more useful than a 'come home' button...

[Gollumpus]

IMO, perhaps the most useful form of "return home" function would be to have the Kino dial back to whatever planet the remote is on. That would come in handy if, for whatever reason, you didn't feel like following it through the 'Gate to recovered.

I'd be okay with this feature as well, however it could be a bit of a security issue for the current crew...

I thought the Ancients considered kinos to be a fairly disposable item (easily replaced from elsewhere or perhaps the ship could just make more as needed). If one of these devices were lost it wouldn't be that big a big deal, therefore giving them an ability to dial a gate address wouldn't be an important feature. However, giving them an ability to go a distance away and then to automatically return to a set location, say a planet's gate or to the controlling device, could be a useful feature.

My thoughts were that if I were an Ancient explorer using a kino, it would be useful to have it return to my location automatically, and quickly, rather than my having to pilot it back from where-ever I had sent it. It's purely a question of being economical with the time I have to do what I want to do.

regards,
G.

[lord groovy]

IMO, perhaps the most useful form of "return home" function would be to have the Kino dial back to whatever planet the remote is on. That would come in handy if, for whatever reason, you didn't feel like following it through the 'Gate to recovered.

until someone/something comes back with it...