In the early days of applied robotics, it had become fairly obvious that a typical robot experiences a great deal of so-called "down time" between designated tasks, due to its great strength and formidible processing powers. These lengthy spans of idleness were, at first, considered to be advantageous with respect to cutting down on wear-and-tear on valuable replacement parts. Unfortunately, it was eventually discovered that these intermittent periods of inactivity had deleterious effects on the positronic brain itself, which, unlike the human brain, needed constant stimulation in order to prevent degenerative depolarization of its pleasure center.