Now that's a really amusing quirk for self-replicators. You build one, it keeps building more of itself. Unfortunately, you built the first one on the cheap, and didn't give it a blueprint, instead you told it to look at itself and just build something like that. Well, it took this a bit too literally, and when your sister went and painted the prototype pink and gave it a little bow...
Then the third one went and fell down the stairs and got a giant dent in it's cranium, so now one out of every three of the things has a weird mis-shapen cranium. And let's not even think about the strain with no legs.
Other quirks:
Igor syndrome - Every bot you build develops a spinal malfunction and adopts an odd accent. Their walking algorithms also tend to self-corrupt in odd ways.
The inverse intelligence-to-mass ratio, and its corallary, the inverse size-to-ego correlation - Human shaped robots tend to get dumber as they get bigger. A man-sized robot has human-equivalent intelligence, while something ten-times the size of a person is resultantly 1/10th as intelligent (so battletech mecha would have the inherent smarts of a rather dim lemming). Of course, smaller robots are proportionally smarter, but not in a direct ratio - 1/10th scale robots tending to have genius level intellects. However, while intelligence does not scale directly with size in the smaller ranges, ego does. Thus, your incredibly intelligent toy robot will probably be constantly plotting your downfall, while the giant robot in hangar bay one will be wondering when he gets to go walkies.
Quirks for non-robots -
Never where you left it - Mad scientists, being often absentminded, can never quite seem to recall exactly where they left that destructo-ray. This may be because they don't have the best of memories, or it could be because the darn thing had to go and find the little lazer's room and forgot where it was put down. Creations of a certain bent can be anywhere from feet to rooms away from where you put it down last, under piles of clothing or debris, or accidentally winding up in someone else's pocket when it really should be in yours. This most often happens to incredibly complex control devices, really important widgets that are most often needed rarely but at a moment's notice, and for the scientist's 'favorite' anything.
Alwyas underfoot - The opposing quirk for items that are rarely needed but too important to get rid or, are those things that just seem to be always THERE but never useful. Like the fire extinguisher that wants a bit more attention or the Metric hydrospanner set when you use English for nearly everything on the ship. This also applies well to pets, small robots, and children's toys.
Others as they come to me.
"Not this again!" Minerva said. "Albus, it was You-Know-Who, not you, who marked Harry as his equal. There is no possible way that the prophecy could be talking about you!" - Harry Potter and the Method of Rationality, Chapter 84
Then the third one went and fell down the stairs and got a giant dent in it's cranium, so now one out of every three of the things has a weird mis-shapen cranium. And let's not even think about the strain with no legs.
Other quirks:
Igor syndrome - Every bot you build develops a spinal malfunction and adopts an odd accent. Their walking algorithms also tend to self-corrupt in odd ways.
The inverse intelligence-to-mass ratio, and its corallary, the inverse size-to-ego correlation - Human shaped robots tend to get dumber as they get bigger. A man-sized robot has human-equivalent intelligence, while something ten-times the size of a person is resultantly 1/10th as intelligent (so battletech mecha would have the inherent smarts of a rather dim lemming). Of course, smaller robots are proportionally smarter, but not in a direct ratio - 1/10th scale robots tending to have genius level intellects. However, while intelligence does not scale directly with size in the smaller ranges, ego does. Thus, your incredibly intelligent toy robot will probably be constantly plotting your downfall, while the giant robot in hangar bay one will be wondering when he gets to go walkies.
Quirks for non-robots -
Never where you left it - Mad scientists, being often absentminded, can never quite seem to recall exactly where they left that destructo-ray. This may be because they don't have the best of memories, or it could be because the darn thing had to go and find the little lazer's room and forgot where it was put down. Creations of a certain bent can be anywhere from feet to rooms away from where you put it down last, under piles of clothing or debris, or accidentally winding up in someone else's pocket when it really should be in yours. This most often happens to incredibly complex control devices, really important widgets that are most often needed rarely but at a moment's notice, and for the scientist's 'favorite' anything.
Alwyas underfoot - The opposing quirk for items that are rarely needed but too important to get rid or, are those things that just seem to be always THERE but never useful. Like the fire extinguisher that wants a bit more attention or the Metric hydrospanner set when you use English for nearly everything on the ship. This also applies well to pets, small robots, and children's toys.
Others as they come to me.
"Not this again!" Minerva said. "Albus, it was You-Know-Who, not you, who marked Harry as his equal. There is no possible way that the prophecy could be talking about you!" - Harry Potter and the Method of Rationality, Chapter 84