From times immemorial, we have dreamt of a faithful servant to offload our mundane and dirty duties. Previously we turned to slavery and social segregation for those needs and more recently to machines. But there is still a lot left to desire from our modern day mechanical servants owing to their lack of intelligence and dexterity.
While much progress is being made in the field of AI, we cannot ignore the developments necessary to improve the versatility, precision and dexterity of our machines. Unless they have able hands, legs and bodies like us, they will be restricted to predefined functions such as those in our factories.
Evolution made sure that our physical form is the most suitable one for a majority of our needs and we don't need to look further for inspiration to start with. However there is a problem; we do not yet have a mechanical equivalent to the muscles in our body.
Here is an idea I propose to create an artificial muscle fibril using small permanent magnets and electromagnets arranged in series. The proposed fibril is in short/contracted state normally and when the electromagnets inside it are energized/activated the fibril relaxes. Polarity reversal can strengthen the contraction too. By bundling these fibrils we can create stronger artificial muscles as necessary.
While much progress is being made in the field of AI, we cannot ignore the developments necessary to improve the versatility, precision and dexterity of our machines. Unless they have able hands, legs and bodies like us, they will be restricted to predefined functions such as those in our factories.
Evolution made sure that our physical form is the most suitable one for a majority of our needs and we don't need to look further for inspiration to start with. However there is a problem; we do not yet have a mechanical equivalent to the muscles in our body.
Here is an idea I propose to create an artificial muscle fibril using small permanent magnets and electromagnets arranged in series. The proposed fibril is in short/contracted state normally and when the electromagnets inside it are energized/activated the fibril relaxes. Polarity reversal can strengthen the contraction too. By bundling these fibrils we can create stronger artificial muscles as necessary.
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That is Incredible! Have any ideas for frames?
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If you are referring to skeleton, it is a passive component and can be made from magnalium, carbon-composite, etc. depending on what we intend to use that robotic arm for.
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Is there a prototype? I'd love to see this in action!
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I dont have a prototype yet Nicholas! Planning on building one soon. Meanwhile I thought I should disclose this invention here and request for comments.
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It's a simple and functional design, so that's a good likeness to our own muscle "sliding filament theory".
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Praveen, why don't we start simulating this. I think we could start with Matlab/Mathematics? Ur thought?
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Simulation would be an ideal course of action with any invention but can be more tedious and error prone than prototyping in my experience. Establishing properties of all the materials is very time consuming!
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on an another note / thought, why can't the same exoskeleton technology be applied to these robots, i assume they all use hydraulic systems i guess powered by battery / fuel cells. See this company http://eksobionics.com/
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The above mechanism should make fine motor movements a piece of cake and enable more compact construction of limbs and extremities compared to hydraulic actuation IMHO.
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