Another one from the "the Professor heard about it, and thought it sounded cool" files.
The Overfan.
Obviously, you wouldn't be pulling this thing out immediately. The term has to come into use, and then the professor has to hear about it, and then he has to actually *do* something about it. When he does, though...
Well, it's a semisentient fan. It looks like a little metal thing with appropriately curved blades coming out the top. You designate a person and tell it to go, at which point it flies over to them, positioning itself over them by helicoptering, until you tell it to stop. It provides a cooling breeze, and will follow you around the lab without you having to tell it to - or even having to think about it much.
There *was* one problem - specifically, that it only worked in labs that already had gravity in them, and that the strength of the airflow was directlly dependant on how much gravity there *was*, and the poor thing kept getting tired anywhere that had heavy G - so he went back to the same boards for inspiration... where people were talking about some sort of movie. Well, the movie really didn't sound like it had *anything* to do with SCIENCE! so it probably wan't worth his while, but they did mention tentacles a time or two - Perfect! He outfitted his little overfan with a few. Now, when the local gravity is either too strong or too weak, the little guy can just find a nearby protrusion, latch on with its tentacles (so versatile) and have a stable base from which to provide its cooling breezes. It hurts reaction time a bit for following you around the room, but that's minor.
So now he has a little flying fan that will follow him around the room, its versatile little tentacles glistening wetly and writhing when not latched on to anything - and people are acting so *strangely* about it. There are some that get that disturbed look on their face, and back away slowly - but that's pretty normal, really. Then there are the others - the ones who want him to reprogram the thing. Why would he want to do that? It does its job perfectly well already!
The Overfan.
Obviously, you wouldn't be pulling this thing out immediately. The term has to come into use, and then the professor has to hear about it, and then he has to actually *do* something about it. When he does, though...
Well, it's a semisentient fan. It looks like a little metal thing with appropriately curved blades coming out the top. You designate a person and tell it to go, at which point it flies over to them, positioning itself over them by helicoptering, until you tell it to stop. It provides a cooling breeze, and will follow you around the lab without you having to tell it to - or even having to think about it much.
There *was* one problem - specifically, that it only worked in labs that already had gravity in them, and that the strength of the airflow was directlly dependant on how much gravity there *was*, and the poor thing kept getting tired anywhere that had heavy G - so he went back to the same boards for inspiration... where people were talking about some sort of movie. Well, the movie really didn't sound like it had *anything* to do with SCIENCE! so it probably wan't worth his while, but they did mention tentacles a time or two - Perfect! He outfitted his little overfan with a few. Now, when the local gravity is either too strong or too weak, the little guy can just find a nearby protrusion, latch on with its tentacles (so versatile) and have a stable base from which to provide its cooling breezes. It hurts reaction time a bit for following you around the room, but that's minor.
So now he has a little flying fan that will follow him around the room, its versatile little tentacles glistening wetly and writhing when not latched on to anything - and people are acting so *strangely* about it. There are some that get that disturbed look on their face, and back away slowly - but that's pretty normal, really. Then there are the others - the ones who want him to reprogram the thing. Why would he want to do that? It does its job perfectly well already!