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Balloon filled with ground coffee makes ideal robotic gripper
- Rhapso 16y agoI have always found it amazing that the most complex problems can be solved with solutions so simple that it takes us a while to figure them out. This looks great, and I can imagine it on all kind of robots.
- stretchwithme 16y agoThis distributes the forces just as evenly as a beanbag distributes your butt force. I needed a tool that evenly distributed forces when applied to muscles and a tiny beanbag in front of plates that roughly approximate the surface is what I came up with.
- ryanpetrich 16y agoUpvoted for finding a legitimate use for the phrase "butt force"
- pontifier 16y agoI have greatly enjoyed sucking the air out of plastic bags filled with all sorts of materials... This "jamming" effect has been used in all sorts of applications, and it's the second robotic application I've seen. This is great... I only wish I had thought of it first... in my experience I would try a less constrictive outer casing.. thin plastic produce bags work better than you would expect.
- billswift 16y agoPolyethylene bags would be too slick. Even with the conforming shape and rigidity from the vacuum, the glass of water shown in one of the photos would have slipped out of the grip. Latex is a much "stickier" surface.
- jonhohle 16y agoVac Man (http://io9.com/329398/vac+man-was-one-space-monster-who-sucked-literally http://io9.com/329398/vac+man-was-one-space-monster-who-suck...) has come to life! Cool to see this being used in a practical application.
- aiurtourist 16y agoIf I were an investor I would use my capital to fund better-smelling robots, like this one. Pluck on, grippy coffee-scented robot. Pluck on.
- unwind 16y agoSo, was I the only one to wonder if "latex party balloon" might be a ... euphemism? :) Looking at the video I no longer think so, though.
- pavel_lishin 16y agoI wouldn't be surprised if they tried using condoms, too. Non-lubricated, of course, but maybe ribbed for the robot's pleasure?
- metabrew 16y agoI love how he describes it as "a mass of granular material encased in a latex membrane". I bet that looks really nice when typeset with latex :)
- js2 16y agoOn a touch device, I can barely find a place to scroll that page w/o clicking an ad. Here's the non-blog spam and ad-free source: http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Oct10/UniversalGripper.html http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Oct10/UniversalGripper.h...
- tdoggette 16y agoThis could be very useful for relatively low-cost prosthetics. All you need from the user is an arm to mount it on and the ability to control vacuum on and off.
- joezydeco 16y ago...and a vacuum source. And a power source for the vacuum. And a way to keep the sound under 90 dB.
- willscott 16y agoThere was something really similar to this (if not the same thing) that came out of University of Chicago recently. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/10/25/a-robot-with-beanbag-hands-learns-the-gentle-touch/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/10/25/a-robot... Physicists are calling these materials 'granular media' - and there is a ton of research going into that field right now.
- jonemo 16y agoChicago and Cornell (and iRobot) are collaborators on this project. That's why there was "something similar" from Chicago recently ;)
- Luyt 16y agoPlus, you always have some coffee around when you suddenly crave caffeine ;-)
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]