autofactory

English

Etymology

From auto- +‎ factory.

Noun

autofactory (plural autofactories)

1. (science fiction) A factory capable of running autonomously.

   Synonym: autofac

   • 1986, Vernor Vinge, “Marooned in Realtime”, in Across Realtime, Garden City, N.Y.: Nelson Doubleday, Inc., page 312:

     He had a moment's vision of the Inland Sea, blue through coastal haze. There were bobbles around the advanced estates, around the NM quarter of town. To the west were several large ones—around the autofactories? Everything was in stasis except the Korolev estate.

   • 1986, Thomas Wren, The Doomsday Effect, New York, N.Y.: Baen Books, →ISBN, page 103:

     "If we used Phobos as the entrapping vehicle," Cocci mused, "we could establish a base on Mars, a dome city. We could even set up an autofactory there to support the work."

   • 2016, Neal Asher, War Factory (Transformation; 2), New York, N.Y.: Night Shade Books, →ISBN, page 406:

     Another tunnel took her through to a chamber from which many such tunnels debarked and thence to the small tubular autofactory that had made her.