3 ms·
The time is coming. Remember when computers were very expensive and out of reach for the average joe? It seems likely robotics will follow the same trajectory.
by AnIrishDuck 13y ago
The time is coming. Remember when computers were very expensive and out of reach for the average joe? It seems likely robotics will follow the same trajectory.
The next generation will probably be playing around with $50-100 robotic toys analogous to today's Raspberry Pi.
- jmpe 13y agoIt's coming but robotics has a major obstacle: transferring power to locomotion. Ideally, we'd have something like a synthetic muscle that converts electricity to work. Instead we have all sorts of servo/hydraulics based actuators. Because of this robotics have a problem with elegant design (anything that doesn't run on wheels) and power/autonomy. There are advances out there, but as long as one can't buy a strand of synthetic muscle for a few dollars it's not going to progress that much.
- moocowduckquack 13y agoTendons on linear motors seems like a good approach. http://www.roboy.org/ http://www.roboy.org/ Also, there are shape memory alloys and they are essentially a strand of synthetic muscle for a few dollars. You could concievable bundle them together to make a larger muscle, but you will probably have to do some active cooling if you want any sort of decent response curve and even then motors can be a lot faster. What I think we could really do with is a linear actuator with a simple built in clutch that doesn't take power to hold a position.
- jmpe 13y agoThanks, wasn't aware of roboy. You're absolutely correct re clutching actuators. There are a lot of robotics projects out there that combine small devices with limited mobility to create a larger (multicellular) robot with higher mobility. All of these projects stumble on that particular aspect: maintaining a lock without consuming power. M-Tran, Symbrion, Distributed Flight Array, ...