Outmode

Thus, in this age of ideological convergence and the outmoding of rigid doctrine, a new pragmatic [relationship] of immense importance seems to be developing here.

Every aspect of Renaissance realism seemed calculated to outmode the medieval illuminators' pictorial vocabulary with its miniature dimensions - two-dimensional patterning and conventionalizations of natural forms.

This implies a difference in living in the country versus the city in the Robots universe. At the hardware store, upon receiving the news that Fender is outmoded and destined for the Chop Shop, after initially agreeing with Piper, Casey immediately asks what they can get for him.

Encouraged by, for some reason, his clanky, fire-breathing mother, Ratchet wants to take replacement parts off the market and offer expensive "upgrades" instead. The broken-down "outmodes" who cannot afford to remake themselves will be swept off the street and sent to Ma Ratchet's underground furnace.

Which brings us to what happens after a robot perishes. As the Rusties explain, "outmodes"-- robots who can no longer get spare parts to be repaired -- are swept up by Sweepers and taken to the Chop Shop, where they're melted down into something else.