10 ms·

Artificial muscles robotic arm with full range of motion [video]

228 points by janpot 5y ago

amelius 5y ago
Next: sensory input?
- juliusz_t 5y ago
  I am the member of crew responsible for the control system. ;) We already have encoders in our fingers, however we have delays in electronics that will aggregate the data. The next hand model will have feedback. However, the real problem is refining the manufacturing process to be repeatable. Too many things are done "by eye" at the moment.
throwawaysea 5y ago
Wow that is an amazing demo, mainly because of how clean and contained the forearm is. I am not sure what the external hydraulic source is like (size, efficiency, etc) and of course a mechanical design like this isn't self-healing the way a biological arm is, but still pretty cool to see.
- mbrumlow 5y ago
  Yah. But it also bleed out or really care if it losses a limb. Just needs another buddie to attach a new one.
imtiyaz 5y ago
For the first time I have seen something like this. It's an amazing demo video.
eagsalazar2 5y ago
If they worked a little on making those things quieter, they'd be like 10X more creepy by virtue of being 10X closer to crossing the uncanny valley. When you make a robotic arm that is so closely modeled after a human arm, isn't that one of the goals?
- kortex 5y ago
  The uncanny valley is wrong. Or rather, it is a result that appears due to the juxtaposition of robots with different goal criteria. Turns out, when you focus just on the devices which try to replicate both human likeness and emotional relate-ability (drop all the WALLe style cute but abstract ones), it's pretty linear based on how well that goal of emotional affect is achieved. https://youtu.be/LKJBND_IRdI https://youtu.be/LKJBND_IRdI
maxyurk 5y ago
"... and even achieve human immortallity by transplanting the brain into the machine."
- arketyp 5y ago
  That entire last sentence came off both naive and quite sinister. I'd like to think that if robots are to "serve people for fun, as butlers" at least they don't have to look like human slaves.
arlattimore 5y ago
Impressive range of movement!
espadrine 5y ago
A few comparisons: > forearm with hand [weighs] only 1 kg That is slightly below a human forearm with a hand. > This artificial muscles robotic arm is operated by water and consumes 200W at peak The ideal consumption necessary to raise this 7 kg dumbbell by 1 meter in 1 second is 7 watts. Human muscle is about 20% efficient, so it probably consumes about 35 watts. Almost a tenth the power. A human arm can also achieve about double the maximum output of that robotic arm: for instance this crank[0] offers 400 W max, with a more typical 50 W sustained output. > achieve human immortallity [sic] by transplanting the brain into the machine That feels like a stretch, given the complex needs of a brain (not just in glucose fed through veins, but also immunity protection and so much more). Brain transplant into an organic body seems easier, and even that does not address the fact that brain cells themselves age. [0]: https://www.electricpedals.com/hand-crank-generator https://www.electricpedals.com/hand-crank-generator
- KronisLV 5y ago
  > Human muscle is about 20% efficient, so it probably consumes about 35 watts. Almost a tenth the power. Being just an order of magnitude away from biology that took millions of years to develop and evolve is really impressive in my eyes! > That feels like a stretch, given the complex needs of a brain (not just in glucose fed through veins, but also immunity protection and so much more). Brain transplant into an organic body seems easier, and even that does not address the fact that brain cells themselves age. That said, this is probably the more reasonable argument. Ideally, eventually we'll just find ways to prevent much of the cell damage with aging - initially it probably won't lead anywhere near "biological immortality" (so it's pretty likely that everyone reading this will die and will cease to exist), but at the very least it'll lead to better quality of life at the more advanced ages and less human suffering overall! Definitely an area that should have anywhere from 10x-100x the resources that have been allotted to it currently. Of course, one can also dream about staving off the eventual and inescapable clutches of entropy, if that allows them to live without existential crises and dread sneaking up on them, as it does with me. Regardless, even advancements in robotics are immensely useful, paving way to everything from improving the quality of life for those who've suffered accidents, are differently abled in various ways, or have other factors that otherwise make their lives more challenging. As for robot transplants or even living transplants, unless you can connect back all of the nerve endings that map roughly to what the host body needs, it's likely that it'd be like being fully paralyzed. In that regard, cryonics would be a better bet, to preserve the human being until the medicine has advanced to the point where any ailments and such can be addressed. Of course, seeing how new and still fledgling (and niche) the industry is, it's unlikely that many if any of the people will ever actually be successfully revived, much like we can't unscramble the brains of mummies in tombs. But hey, if nothing else, it's an interesting pursuit and the trans-humanism movement is always curious to behold. Who doesn't enjoy racking their brains, imagining engineering solutions to problems that no one would have even considered a century ago?
ecpottinger 5y ago
What I don't see is how much hardware is needed to drive that arm.
- agumonkey 5y ago
  you think there's a massive machinery outside the camera frame ? i've seen some wire twisting as motor few years back, maybe that's what they use
- juliusz_t 5y ago
  We use custom valves, single board computer, water tank, pump with controller and a dozen meters of tubing. Valves are not shown on purpose. All these things would fit in a human chest - we have a plastic skeleton next to it. We are working on further minimizing this.
zakary 5y ago
This guy is a great engineer, I’ve been following his stuff for a while now. But there are unfortunately several fundamental limits which mean this type of system will likely never reach human level performance in a real world system. I work in robotics, specifically compliant and modular actuators, similar to the ones in the video. As I see it, (and many others in the field) One of the biggest issues in robotics is a lack of good artificial muscles. The need for them is that in a robot which can work with people you want it to have both high enough force output and power density to actually move things, but you also want the robots arms to be back drivable; you want to be able to move its arms by an outside force. For welding robots you want the opposite, zero backdriving and zero backlash. To get back-drivability, good torque and reasonable power density, you generally can’t use spinning electric motors. You need to hear them too much. This is why Boston dynamics use hydraulics. It’s also why Boston dynamics is unlikely to ever sell you an Atlas in its current form because those custom hydraulic actuators make the system so unreliable and expensive, even a mining or gas company would struggle to justify it. The short and long of it is this: if you want a robot that can do the things humans can do, like play soccer and rock climbing and knitting, then you need muscles like humans have. So you need artificial muscles. There are a lot of different ways of making them. [1] the issue is no published technology is able to give you want you need to make a good analogue of human muscles. The muscles in the video are (correct me if I’m wrong) soft fluidic actuators. These actually have pretty good potential, especially compared to things like piezoelectric actuators. But when taking into account how you would actually put these in a real world robot, problems arise. But the main downside is you need lots of pumps and tubing to make it work, and it has limited maximum stress and relatively low actuation bandwidth. In a nut shell, to make these strong enough to do much useful work, you need them to be really big, and that means they can’t move very fast. There is a reason you don’t see any commercially available robots with this kind of actuator. I really hope this creator can make his system do what he has set out to achieve. And perhaps he will be the one to figure out a new kind of actuator which does tick all the right boxes. Conflict of interest: The startup I work at is developing a commercial product using a new kind of artificial muscle. So my views may be coloured by that. [1] See this paper for a good breakdown of artificial muscles: https://sci-hub.se/downloads/2019-10-12/7c/zhang2019.pdf?rand=61725e355cfa5 https://sci-hub.se/downloads/2019-10-12/7c/zhang2019.pdf?ran...
m0zg 5y ago
For comparison, a decently trained human male can hold approximately 80kg (175lb) per hand (350lb total) fairly easily without any assists such as straps, and without using hook grip. With hook grip or straps, the strength of your back is the limiting factor. That said, as a first step this is very impressive and very lifelike, too. The main issue with this is going to be proprioception more than anything - it doesn't seem like you'd be able to do what robots do: rely on position encoders. To make this do something for real it's going to need a way to know its own position, and feel pressure.
- adminscoffee 5y ago
  good points, if the system had tension connectors to other points on the body than it would be able to increase output. an arm using more than what is available in the arm, other parts of the body help the strength of an arm. think jiu jitsu and types of hits, and their impact
- animal531 5y ago
  I have a really bad back and as a result I can't really exercise. So let's say I can carry 8kg max per hand (1/10th). And yet I'm a fully functional adult human being and can get by perfectly fine in life. So for me from a robotics point of view a much smaller starting range is perfect, once you've built it into a platform you can start optimizing and increasing potential.
  - harperlee 5y ago
    I always joke that if I build a robot I will first target a very old person that can ask for help in a lot of situations. Weak muscles, slow moving, and yet the world will adapt to it, seeing that it is fragile and it needs our help for some things.
- jjk166 5y ago
  A trained human might be able to deadlift 350lbs under ideal circumstances like being in a gym. No one is capable of lifting and holding that sort of weight for an extended period of time. For an average human under realistic circumstances, lifting 100lbs over your head is a difficult task. Lifting much more than 50 lbs unassisted frequently in a work environment is likely to lead to injury.
edumucelli 5y ago
Do you remember that Terminator 2 scene where Arnold cut his own skin to show the underlying robotic arm? This video seems like the "behind the scenes", but for real.
juliusz_t 5y ago
We just start the incorporation process. Our team is looking for first clients and investors. We plan to start with the first preorder in the coming months. If interested, please contact us by e-mail: automaton.company@gmail.com
feelandcoffee 5y ago
I love how this project looks. Feels closer to Metal Gear Solid 4 sci-fi bio-tech, than to regular mechanical arms. Maybe falls a little bit under the uncanny valley but with clothes on, I could see this achieving a pretty natural look to a prosthetic, plus this type of design seems more analog to an actual arm in terms of control. I know that there is a long way for real-life use, and maybe I'm naive because I don't know all the caveats that need to solved to make it feasible, but this type of tech gives always puts a smile on my face.
causi 5y ago
"With" needs to be removed from the submission title, as that isn't the title nor the intended meaning of the Youtube video title. The title is Artificial Muscles Robotic Arm Full Range of Motion + Static Strength Test, as in it is demonstrating the range of motion of the artificial arm, not claiming it has the full range of motion of a human arm. It does not, as clearly stated in the video description. Fingers are going to move from left to right but they don't have muscles yet. Metacarpal and left-to-right wrist movement are also blocked.
aaaaaaaaaaab 5y ago
>forearm with hand [weighs] only 1 kg * without the power source and pumps
- calvinmorrison 5y ago
  * cuts arm off * wow how can you even say this is a human arm? I don't even see any power source!
titzer 5y ago
I've watched the video three times and I have my doubts. Why is the robot arm a right arm and the one manipulating it a left arm? Why is nothing above the elbow shown? I am not saying this is fake, but it wouldn't be hard to fake. A few little zipping noises, some body paint, speed it up slightly, add in some CGI muscles underneath the skin... Again, I'm not saying it is fake, but it could easily be. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
- alex_duf 5y ago
  >Why is the robot arm a right arm and the one manipulating it a left arm? are you asking about the person manipulating it? If so I guess that person is just right handed and needs to hold the camera somehow...
- tokamak 5y ago
  Just check the other videos on the cannel. It gets pretty clear it's not a fake because you can see different stages and components that make it.
  - titzer 5y ago
    I did as well, so I don't think it's fake now. It is still weird to me that the video uploaded was shot so poorly. The OP could use a tripod.
postalrat 5y ago
Why does it sound like servos? With those type of artificial muscles I'd expect to maybe hear valves, not servos.
- mikewarot 5y ago
  It sounds a lot like there's a compressor driving things in the background, and a lot of servo operated valves controlling flow. I bet the "muscles" themselves are quite quiet.
- webmaven 5y ago
  I'm pretty sure the sounds you hear (which resemble the sounds an articulating-arm desklamp makes) are the 'ligament' attachment points and joints.
rpmisms 5y ago
This has been tossed around as a theoretical for a long time, and it looks fantastic. Hopefully we can optimize this and move towards full biological integration. Amputees shouldn't have to deal with clumsy prosthetics. Edit: I am curious about what tech would be needed to bring this up to near par with a human arm.
- hrgiger 5y ago
  First come to my mind Cellink has 3D tissue printers. Some of their products also supports soft robotics . I think they are not alone in the market.
verytrivial 5y ago
The motion, form-factor and the range of movements is certainly good, but looking at some of the other videos[1] shows the arm really is the neat, tiny protuberance of much larger stack of technology. The pumps and everything else appear massive and bulky. Biological muscles are self-contained, not tethered. This is no doubt an impressive demonstration of integration, but unless all those pumps are inside the arm, the further claims about how this technology will be used seem a bit ... stretched. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s8YiEBr_u0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s8YiEBr_u0
- micromacrofoot 5y ago
  These things always start off large and gradually get smaller (and often miniaturization is where the really interesting optimizations come), apparently this apparatus can already fit roughly within a human-sized body... which isn't a bad start.
  - fho 5y ago
    While this definitely is an impressive an impressive one, those artificial pneumatic muscles have been around for ages [1] but have not become much smaller. My guess would be that there is some physical limit on how useful they can be. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_artificial_muscles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_artificial_muscles
    - micromacrofoot 5y ago
      Physics certainly makes fools of us all.
- Robotbeat 5y ago
  Putting the pumps in the torso is a good idea. Putting them inside the arm itself increases the inertia of the arm.
- kobalsky 5y ago
  you don’t have an eureka moment and build a perfectly functional android from scratch. this is a necessary step towards a better-than-human arm
robomartin 5y ago
Well, this technology dates back to the 1950's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_artificial_muscles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_artificial_muscles Hydraulic, rather than pneumatic, operation has also been attempted. Fun stuff, but nowhere close to being practical in any way for real world robotics. And, no, it isn't a matter of iterating and optimization. These kinds of actuators will never be anywhere close to the energy efficiency and technical simplicity necessary to build something like a full function humanoid with hundreds of actuators that can run without a small power plant connected to it via an umbilical cord and everyone in the room wearing hearing protection. That said, it is great to see people experimenting and learning. Nothing wrong with that. Great video.
- goldenkey 5y ago
  Reusable rockets weren't practical either. But someone was maverick enough to attempt it anyways. [1] You provide valuable information but I just hate how you succumb to easy thinking, an appeal to tradition [2]: "well it hadn't been done then so it can't possibly be done now." It's a form of anachronistic gatekeeping. It doesn't belong in the age we currently reside in. We have totally different computational abilities today, powerful beyond reason. Our hardware is smaller and better performing. We can perform digital simulations billions of times before we even execute one physical experiment. I've seen the same attitude with age-old mathematics problems and it makes even less sense in that domain. The ability to perform computational experiments that our predecessors couldn't, changes the viability of almost every unsolved problem. Boston Dynamics would have never created Atlas or Spot if they clung to common tropes about robots. And now, due to battery technology, the once tethered robots are dexterously mobile. [2] [1] https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/10/05/how-much-cheaper-are-spacex-reusable-rockets-now-w https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/10/05/how-much-cheaper-a... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_tradition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_tradition [3] https://youtu.be/tF4DML7FIWk https://youtu.be/tF4DML7FIWk
  - cma 5y ago
    Reuse has been a goal since the at least 70s, with the Shuttle project, Buran, later the DC-X, etc. It wasn't one guy maverick enough to attempt it. And it wasn't given up on and then revived by one guy. Blue Origin, Armadillo, Scaled Composites, etc. were all attempting it. It is the largest scale (comparing heavy vs shuttle, though heavy hasn't seen much use) and seemingly most successful, and several other firsts. The upper stage still is discarded, but if they can pull off the Starshuttle it will be huge and the first operating at anywhere near that scale with full reuse.
gremloni 5y ago
I can’t wait for these things to be covered in real lab grown human skin and tissue and kept alive by nutrient packs held in the prosthetic itself. That way it doesn’t use any resources from the prosthetics wearer and we don’t have to deal with immunity issues.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

228 points by janpot 5y ago

amelius 5y ago

Next: sensory input?

juliusz_t 5y ago
I am the member of crew responsible for the control system. ;) We already have encoders in our fingers, however we have delays in electronics that will aggregate the data. The next hand model will have feedback. However, the real problem is refining the manufacturing process to be repeatable. Too many things are done "by eye" at the moment.

throwawaysea 5y ago

Wow that is an amazing demo, mainly because of how clean and contained the forearm is. I am not sure what the external hydraulic source is like (size, efficiency, etc) and of course a mechanical design like this isn't self-healing the way a biological arm is, but still pretty cool to see.

mbrumlow 5y ago
Yah. But it also bleed out or really care if it losses a limb. Just needs another buddie to attach a new one.

imtiyaz 5y ago

For the first time I have seen something like this. It's an amazing demo video.

eagsalazar2 5y ago

If they worked a little on making those things quieter, they'd be like 10X more creepy by virtue of being 10X closer to crossing the uncanny valley. When you make a robotic arm that is so closely modeled after a human arm, isn't that one of the goals?

kortex 5y ago
The uncanny valley is wrong. Or rather, it is a result that appears due to the juxtaposition of robots with different goal criteria. Turns out, when you focus just on the devices which try to replicate both human likeness and emotional relate-ability (drop all the WALLe style cute but abstract ones), it's pretty linear based on how well that goal of emotional affect is achieved. https://youtu.be/LKJBND_IRdI https://youtu.be/LKJBND_IRdI

maxyurk 5y ago

"... and even achieve human immortallity by transplanting the brain into the machine."

arketyp 5y ago
That entire last sentence came off both naive and quite sinister. I'd like to think that if robots are to "serve people for fun, as butlers" at least they don't have to look like human slaves.

arlattimore 5y ago

Impressive range of movement!

espadrine 5y ago

A few comparisons: > forearm with hand [weighs] only 1 kg That is slightly below a human forearm with a hand. > This artificial muscles robotic arm is operated by water and consumes 200W at peak The ideal consumption necessary to raise this 7 kg dumbbell by 1 meter in 1 second is 7 watts. Human muscle is about 20% efficient, so it probably consumes about 35 watts. Almost a tenth the power. A human arm can also achieve about double the maximum output of that robotic arm: for instance this crank[0] offers 400 W max, with a more typical 50 W sustained output. > achieve human immortallity [sic] by transplanting the brain into the machine That feels like a stretch, given the complex needs of a brain (not just in glucose fed through veins, but also immunity protection and so much more). Brain transplant into an organic body seems easier, and even that does not address the fact that brain cells themselves age. [0]: https://www.electricpedals.com/hand-crank-generator https://www.electricpedals.com/hand-crank-generator

KronisLV 5y ago
> Human muscle is about 20% efficient, so it probably consumes about 35 watts. Almost a tenth the power. Being just an order of magnitude away from biology that took millions of years to develop and evolve is really impressive in my eyes! > That feels like a stretch, given the complex needs of a brain (not just in glucose fed through veins, but also immunity protection and so much more). Brain transplant into an organic body seems easier, and even that does not address the fact that brain cells themselves age. That said, this is probably the more reasonable argument. Ideally, eventually we'll just find ways to prevent much of the cell damage with aging - initially it probably won't lead anywhere near "biological immortality" (so it's pretty likely that everyone reading this will die and will cease to exist), but at the very least it'll lead to better quality of life at the more advanced ages and less human suffering overall! Definitely an area that should have anywhere from 10x-100x the resources that have been allotted to it currently. Of course, one can also dream about staving off the eventual and inescapable clutches of entropy, if that allows them to live without existential crises and dread sneaking up on them, as it does with me. Regardless, even advancements in robotics are immensely useful, paving way to everything from improving the quality of life for those who've suffered accidents, are differently abled in various ways, or have other factors that otherwise make their lives more challenging. As for robot transplants or even living transplants, unless you can connect back all of the nerve endings that map roughly to what the host body needs, it's likely that it'd be like being fully paralyzed. In that regard, cryonics would be a better bet, to preserve the human being until the medicine has advanced to the point where any ailments and such can be addressed. Of course, seeing how new and still fledgling (and niche) the industry is, it's unlikely that many if any of the people will ever actually be successfully revived, much like we can't unscramble the brains of mummies in tombs. But hey, if nothing else, it's an interesting pursuit and the trans-humanism movement is always curious to behold. Who doesn't enjoy racking their brains, imagining engineering solutions to problems that no one would have even considered a century ago?

ecpottinger 5y ago

What I don't see is how much hardware is needed to drive that arm.

agumonkey 5y ago
you think there's a massive machinery outside the camera frame ? i've seen some wire twisting as motor few years back, maybe that's what they use
juliusz_t 5y ago
We use custom valves, single board computer, water tank, pump with controller and a dozen meters of tubing. Valves are not shown on purpose. All these things would fit in a human chest - we have a plastic skeleton next to it. We are working on further minimizing this.

zakary 5y ago

This guy is a great engineer, I’ve been following his stuff for a while now. But there are unfortunately several fundamental limits which mean this type of system will likely never reach human level performance in a real world system. I work in robotics, specifically compliant and modular actuators, similar to the ones in the video. As I see it, (and many others in the field) One of the biggest issues in robotics is a lack of good artificial muscles. The need for them is that in a robot which can work with people you want it to have both high enough force output and power density to actually move things, but you also want the robots arms to be back drivable; you want to be able to move its arms by an outside force. For welding robots you want the opposite, zero backdriving and zero backlash. To get back-drivability, good torque and reasonable power density, you generally can’t use spinning electric motors. You need to hear them too much. This is why Boston dynamics use hydraulics. It’s also why Boston dynamics is unlikely to ever sell you an Atlas in its current form because those custom hydraulic actuators make the system so unreliable and expensive, even a mining or gas company would struggle to justify it. The short and long of it is this: if you want a robot that can do the things humans can do, like play soccer and rock climbing and knitting, then you need muscles like humans have. So you need artificial muscles. There are a lot of different ways of making them. [1] the issue is no published technology is able to give you want you need to make a good analogue of human muscles. The muscles in the video are (correct me if I’m wrong) soft fluidic actuators. These actually have pretty good potential, especially compared to things like piezoelectric actuators. But when taking into account how you would actually put these in a real world robot, problems arise. But the main downside is you need lots of pumps and tubing to make it work, and it has limited maximum stress and relatively low actuation bandwidth. In a nut shell, to make these strong enough to do much useful work, you need them to be really big, and that means they can’t move very fast. There is a reason you don’t see any commercially available robots with this kind of actuator. I really hope this creator can make his system do what he has set out to achieve. And perhaps he will be the one to figure out a new kind of actuator which does tick all the right boxes. Conflict of interest: The startup I work at is developing a commercial product using a new kind of artificial muscle. So my views may be coloured by that. [1] See this paper for a good breakdown of artificial muscles: https://sci-hub.se/downloads/2019-10-12/7c/zhang2019.pdf?rand=61725e355cfa5 https://sci-hub.se/downloads/2019-10-12/7c/zhang2019.pdf?ran...

m0zg 5y ago

For comparison, a decently trained human male can hold approximately 80kg (175lb) per hand (350lb total) fairly easily without any assists such as straps, and without using hook grip. With hook grip or straps, the strength of your back is the limiting factor. That said, as a first step this is very impressive and very lifelike, too. The main issue with this is going to be proprioception more than anything - it doesn't seem like you'd be able to do what robots do: rely on position encoders. To make this do something for real it's going to need a way to know its own position, and feel pressure.

adminscoffee 5y ago
good points, if the system had tension connectors to other points on the body than it would be able to increase output. an arm using more than what is available in the arm, other parts of the body help the strength of an arm. think jiu jitsu and types of hits, and their impact
animal531 5y ago
I have a really bad back and as a result I can't really exercise. So let's say I can carry 8kg max per hand (1/10th). And yet I'm a fully functional adult human being and can get by perfectly fine in life. So for me from a robotics point of view a much smaller starting range is perfect, once you've built it into a platform you can start optimizing and increasing potential.
- harperlee 5y ago
  I always joke that if I build a robot I will first target a very old person that can ask for help in a lot of situations. Weak muscles, slow moving, and yet the world will adapt to it, seeing that it is fragile and it needs our help for some things.
jjk166 5y ago
A trained human might be able to deadlift 350lbs under ideal circumstances like being in a gym. No one is capable of lifting and holding that sort of weight for an extended period of time. For an average human under realistic circumstances, lifting 100lbs over your head is a difficult task. Lifting much more than 50 lbs unassisted frequently in a work environment is likely to lead to injury.

edumucelli 5y ago

Do you remember that Terminator 2 scene where Arnold cut his own skin to show the underlying robotic arm? This video seems like the "behind the scenes", but for real.

juliusz_t 5y ago

We just start the incorporation process. Our team is looking for first clients and investors. We plan to start with the first preorder in the coming months. If interested, please contact us by e-mail: automaton.company@gmail.com

feelandcoffee 5y ago

I love how this project looks. Feels closer to Metal Gear Solid 4 sci-fi bio-tech, than to regular mechanical arms. Maybe falls a little bit under the uncanny valley but with clothes on, I could see this achieving a pretty natural look to a prosthetic, plus this type of design seems more analog to an actual arm in terms of control. I know that there is a long way for real-life use, and maybe I'm naive because I don't know all the caveats that need to solved to make it feasible, but this type of tech gives always puts a smile on my face.

causi 5y ago

"With" needs to be removed from the submission title, as that isn't the title nor the intended meaning of the Youtube video title. The title is Artificial Muscles Robotic Arm Full Range of Motion + Static Strength Test, as in it is demonstrating the range of motion of the artificial arm, not claiming it has the full range of motion of a human arm. It does not, as clearly stated in the video description. Fingers are going to move from left to right but they don't have muscles yet. Metacarpal and left-to-right wrist movement are also blocked.

aaaaaaaaaaab 5y ago

>forearm with hand [weighs] only 1 kg * without the power source and pumps

calvinmorrison 5y ago
* cuts arm off * wow how can you even say this is a human arm? I don't even see any power source!

titzer 5y ago

I've watched the video three times and I have my doubts. Why is the robot arm a right arm and the one manipulating it a left arm? Why is nothing above the elbow shown? I am not saying this is fake, but it wouldn't be hard to fake. A few little zipping noises, some body paint, speed it up slightly, add in some CGI muscles underneath the skin... Again, I'm not saying it is fake, but it could easily be. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

alex_duf 5y ago
>Why is the robot arm a right arm and the one manipulating it a left arm? are you asking about the person manipulating it? If so I guess that person is just right handed and needs to hold the camera somehow...
tokamak 5y ago
Just check the other videos on the cannel. It gets pretty clear it's not a fake because you can see different stages and components that make it.
- titzer 5y ago
  I did as well, so I don't think it's fake now. It is still weird to me that the video uploaded was shot so poorly. The OP could use a tripod.

postalrat 5y ago

Why does it sound like servos? With those type of artificial muscles I'd expect to maybe hear valves, not servos.

mikewarot 5y ago
It sounds a lot like there's a compressor driving things in the background, and a lot of servo operated valves controlling flow. I bet the "muscles" themselves are quite quiet.
webmaven 5y ago
I'm pretty sure the sounds you hear (which resemble the sounds an articulating-arm desklamp makes) are the 'ligament' attachment points and joints.

rpmisms 5y ago

This has been tossed around as a theoretical for a long time, and it looks fantastic. Hopefully we can optimize this and move towards full biological integration. Amputees shouldn't have to deal with clumsy prosthetics. Edit: I am curious about what tech would be needed to bring this up to near par with a human arm.

hrgiger 5y ago
First come to my mind Cellink has 3D tissue printers. Some of their products also supports soft robotics . I think they are not alone in the market.

verytrivial 5y ago

The motion, form-factor and the range of movements is certainly good, but looking at some of the other videos[1] shows the arm really is the neat, tiny protuberance of much larger stack of technology. The pumps and everything else appear massive and bulky. Biological muscles are self-contained, not tethered. This is no doubt an impressive demonstration of integration, but unless all those pumps are inside the arm, the further claims about how this technology will be used seem a bit ... stretched. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s8YiEBr_u0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s8YiEBr_u0

micromacrofoot 5y ago
These things always start off large and gradually get smaller (and often miniaturization is where the really interesting optimizations come), apparently this apparatus can already fit roughly within a human-sized body... which isn't a bad start.
- fho 5y ago
  While this definitely is an impressive an impressive one, those artificial pneumatic muscles have been around for ages [1] but have not become much smaller. My guess would be that there is some physical limit on how useful they can be. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_artificial_muscles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_artificial_muscles
  - micromacrofoot 5y ago
    Physics certainly makes fools of us all.
Robotbeat 5y ago
Putting the pumps in the torso is a good idea. Putting them inside the arm itself increases the inertia of the arm.
kobalsky 5y ago
you don’t have an eureka moment and build a perfectly functional android from scratch. this is a necessary step towards a better-than-human arm

robomartin 5y ago

Well, this technology dates back to the 1950's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_artificial_muscles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_artificial_muscles Hydraulic, rather than pneumatic, operation has also been attempted. Fun stuff, but nowhere close to being practical in any way for real world robotics. And, no, it isn't a matter of iterating and optimization. These kinds of actuators will never be anywhere close to the energy efficiency and technical simplicity necessary to build something like a full function humanoid with hundreds of actuators that can run without a small power plant connected to it via an umbilical cord and everyone in the room wearing hearing protection. That said, it is great to see people experimenting and learning. Nothing wrong with that. Great video.

goldenkey 5y ago
Reusable rockets weren't practical either. But someone was maverick enough to attempt it anyways. [1] You provide valuable information but I just hate how you succumb to easy thinking, an appeal to tradition [2]: "well it hadn't been done then so it can't possibly be done now." It's a form of anachronistic gatekeeping. It doesn't belong in the age we currently reside in. We have totally different computational abilities today, powerful beyond reason. Our hardware is smaller and better performing. We can perform digital simulations billions of times before we even execute one physical experiment. I've seen the same attitude with age-old mathematics problems and it makes even less sense in that domain. The ability to perform computational experiments that our predecessors couldn't, changes the viability of almost every unsolved problem. Boston Dynamics would have never created Atlas or Spot if they clung to common tropes about robots. And now, due to battery technology, the once tethered robots are dexterously mobile. [2] [1] https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/10/05/how-much-cheaper-are-spacex-reusable-rockets-now-w https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/10/05/how-much-cheaper-a... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_tradition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_tradition [3] https://youtu.be/tF4DML7FIWk https://youtu.be/tF4DML7FIWk
- cma 5y ago
  Reuse has been a goal since the at least 70s, with the Shuttle project, Buran, later the DC-X, etc. It wasn't one guy maverick enough to attempt it. And it wasn't given up on and then revived by one guy. Blue Origin, Armadillo, Scaled Composites, etc. were all attempting it. It is the largest scale (comparing heavy vs shuttle, though heavy hasn't seen much use) and seemingly most successful, and several other firsts. The upper stage still is discarded, but if they can pull off the Starshuttle it will be huge and the first operating at anywhere near that scale with full reuse.

gremloni 5y ago

I can’t wait for these things to be covered in real lab grown human skin and tissue and kept alive by nutrient packs held in the prosthetic itself. That way it doesn’t use any resources from the prosthetics wearer and we don’t have to deal with immunity issues.

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