Greetings Jonathan, It sounds like someone modified a grav belt to be a floating shopping bag because the wife/girlfriend went shopping. Some developer spotted it and the rest is history. In service, Clifford Linehan Traveller: The Core Route Projects �Traveller is a registered trademark of Far Future Enterprises, 1977-2016 On Tue, 10 Jan 2017 19:02:31 -0500 Jonathan Clark <xxxxxx@att.net> writes: > One of the things I like to do in my campaigns is to come up with > some applications of > technology which people might use in everyday life (rather than just > a More Bigger > Pointier Stick (tm)). > > Here's a little gadget that I whipped up for my current campaign. If > you like it, feel > free to use it. If you don't, ignore it. Redistribution rights > granted, providing correct > attribution is maintained. Please note that I am not a gearhead so > any questions to me > about design sequences are pointless. (If anyone else wants to do > this, be my guest.) > Also I only use the canon TU as background, not as gospel. My TU > is... highly variant. > > A Grav Handle is a pocket-sized device designed to carry objects > which are bulky, or heavy, > but not large/massive enough to need a full-sized grav floater. It > also allows you to carry > items while keeping your hands free for other uses. It's a great > thing to have on you when > you're doing the weekly shopping. (How many times have the crew of > the tramp freighter in > *your* campaign had to pass up a great deal on 50 kilos of frozen > groat steaks because they > didn't have any way to get them back to the ship on time? :-) ). > > It's basically a teeny-tiny grav drive, a battery, a control unit, > and a device for connecting > it to the object being carried (I used a carabiner for this). > > How does it work? Well, if you have to transport something then you > hook the object up to the > Handle (eg by putting the handles of the bag it came in or you put > it in through the carabiner, > or by using straps around it and hooking it up ditto, or whatever), > and turn the device on. > This then lifts up, cargo and all, until the cargo is 10cm or so off > the ground. You then use > the control unit to drive it along to where you're going (probably > your ground vehicle, but > could be taxi, subway, anything). Simple, no? > > Some side notes and safety features, in no particular order. > > There's a trade-off between carrying capacity and battery life. I > hand-waved this at 50kg for > half an hour, or 100kg for 15 minutes. There would certainly be a > realtime readout available > of the amount of battery life remaining at current load and speed. > See discussion below. > > There is a potential 'pendulum' problem with the basic model > described above - the bag is > going to swing. More advanced models might have four, or six, even > teenier grav drives attached > to the main unit on retractable cables. Each separate sub-unit pulls > out and is clipped to > a separate corner of the cargo. These work together to damp down any > swing, pitch, roll, and > yaw. The cables supply power and control. > > You can lift the cargo more than 10cm, but not more than 30cm, off > the ground (eg for rough > terrain, flooding, steps, and so on). You can adjust the attitude > (eg for going up steps you > might want the angle of the cargo to match the angle of the steps). > For safety reasons, the > control unit won't go more than 2 metres off the ground. > > I figured that the control unit might have a 3D joystick or > something on it for control. > Perhaps this is also on a retractable cord, so you can hand-hold it, > for convenience. > There's a "dead-man switch" on the Handle, for safety reasons. Or > you can drive it from > your comm (your hand computer - everybody has one). Again, for > safety reasons, if the Handle > gets out of range (2 metres), or if you let go of the control, then > it stops moving and > sets down. Or you can set it to 'follow me' mode, and it will follow > your comm. If it goes > out of range, it just stops, and will need another command to start > moving again. If the > battery runs out, same thing. > > Background notes and assumptions. > > My TU is a pretty high-tech one - TL16 is common, and some planets > are just about at TL18 > (which I interpret as TL15/16 in parts, and TL20 in parts). Also my > civilized societies tend > to be fairly legalistic: safety (at least of the public) is a major > consideration. (Note to > sadistic GMs: some players can find built-in and > not-easily-overridden safety features very > frustrating...) > > An interesting question is 'so what Tech level does this item appear > at?'. My answer is 'make > your own decision'. According to T5 (since I have the book handy), > Gravitics comes in at TL9, > and drives large (and energy-efficient) enough to lift loads to > orbit come along at TL10. My > guess is that something like a Grav Handle is commonly available at > TL13 or TL14, but I won't > come after you if you slot it into your TU at TL16, or anywhere > else. > > An associated question is 'what sort of battery?'. Again, my answer > is 'any sort you want', > but in my TU I have anti-matter batteries as mainstream. These are > rechargeable, off any > standard power outlet. If you want to scoff at this and invent a > specialist store where you > drop off your batteries to be recharged and picked up later, or > where you turn in your batteries, > pay a small fee, and walk out with the same number of the same type, > freshly recharged (cf > propane tanks in the US), go ahead. If you decide that these > batteries are throw-aways, go for it. > > I posit that however a grav drive works, it doesn't affect the > content of the matter around it > significantly (if you see what I mean). You could built a Handle > with a rocket motor, but I don't > think that your purchases would look too good when you turned it off > again - and neither would you. > > Anyway, hope this is useful, or thought-provoking, to some of you > out there. Comments welcome. > > Any other handy-dandy devices out there that people would like to > share? > > Jonathan > > ----- > The Traveller Mailing List > Archives at http://archives.simplelists.com/tml > Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com > To unsubscribe from this list please go to > http://www.simplelists.com/confirm.php?u=5PTwDOWir9J3kHUuQQwJfFoXspU30htC > > ____________________________________________________________ How To Remove Eye Bags & Lip Lines Fast (Watch) Womans Weekly http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/5879c5363abe445357255st02vuc
