you know that old '90s trend of technology like phones and console controllers and whatnot having transparent plastic casing, so you could see the circuit boards and wiring underneath? i'm obsessed with those, and i'm particularly obsessed with the idea of a robot whose torso is transparent, so you can see all those inner-workings, including a stretchy sac at the bottom of their torso that collects wastewater from the cooling system. it's semi-transparent, too, just enough to be able to tell how full they are at a glance, so the supervisors know who needs to be excused. it has a release valve on the crotch, because gravity. walk with me.
stoic robot who doesn't squirm, never complains, denies breaks and stays unnaturally still even as warnings bombard their vision. the only reason anyone would catch onto how desperate they are is the visible tautness of their "bladder". they keep their hands folded in front of them as much as they can in hopes of hiding it from anyone who happens to glance their way. they don't need a break, okay? they just don't. they have work to do, damn it, and they're not going to let anything stop them. not even as leaks force themselves past the seal on the release valve, dripping down their legs, the dam threatening to break entirely
robot whose alert system is oversensitive, so they're squirming and whining that it's an emergency and they need a break now, they're gonna leak, pleeeaase, even when they're ages from actually leaking. the supervisors can see they're not that full and assume they're just making up excuses and ignore them. eventually all the warnings make it too hard for them to focus and they slump against a wall, voluntarily releasing all over their legs, gasping with relief and later insisting they couldn't hold it
robot whose job involves a lot of movement, maybe stocking shelves, whose bladder sloshes every time they squat down and get back up, over and over, wastewater swishing around and making their systems think they're more full than they are, sending them increasingly urgent alerts that they ignore until it really is too late and they squat down, putting pressure on the release valve and making it automatically open. they stay squatting until they're empty, too stunned to straighten up, a puddle underneath them making it way too obvious what happened
robot who's at their limit and knows it, who's already been excused but they can't even walk without the movement causing their body to involuntarily void. instead they stand in place, shifting from foot to foot, squeezing together their thighs together and fanning them open, their squirming audible as plastic and metal thump and clank together. they're as full as can be, and seeing their stretched bladder makes one of their supervisors have to excuse themselves. soon enough a particularly big leak forces its way out and they full on run to release into the larger wastewater tank, leaving tiny (but getting bigger) puddles on the way there
