Worldboat: The Adaptobots

Throughout the various and sundry Zones, Habitats and Regions of the Worldboats, there are legions of autonomous mechanical, biological and nanological droneforms and servitors who constantly repair things, re-balance sub-systems, and maintain the complex and ever-evolving endo-ecology of these lost megastructures.

One of the simpler, more basic forms are the Adaptobots -- spindly little figures that partake as much from barnacle-like tunicate lifeforms as from their mechanical predecessors and the nanolloy-mass that they use to extrude tools, manipulators and other things on-demand.

Each Adaptobot begins with a fairly elementary arrangement of limbs, perceptors and extruders, often two or three of each, and are then sent off to develop as they are required in the course of carrying out their intrinsic duties and bio-obligations. Each one then learns as it goes along, developing unique sub-systems of their own, creating and recreating themselves over and over again into something new and never before seen or consciously planned.