[HN Gopher] Artificial muscles robotic arm with full range of mo...
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       Artificial muscles robotic arm with full range of motion [video]
        
       Author : janpot
       Score  : 221 points
       Date   : 2021-10-20 15:27 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.youtube.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com)
        
       | causi wrote:
       | "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._
        
       | gremloni wrote:
       | 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.
        
       | rpmisms wrote:
       | 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 wrote:
         | 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.
        
       | throwawaysea wrote:
       | 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 wrote:
         | Yah. But it also bleed out or really care if it losses a limb.
         | Just needs another buddie to attach a new one.
        
       | zakary wrote:
       | 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?ran...
        
         | arturventura wrote:
         | Hey, I've been looking into artifical muscles myself. Are you
         | guys stealth or can you talk about your company?
        
           | zakary wrote:
           | Yes we're in stealth, so there is little to be said on
           | details.
           | 
           | I can say that I'm a big fan of K. Eric Drexlers work and
           | that you should read it if you want to know what the future
           | will look like.
        
         | conjectures wrote:
         | This and op is all wholesome content.
         | 
         | On the criticism, do you think more limited / lab-bound systems
         | will help develop control technology in advance of better
         | muscles?
        
           | zakary wrote:
           | Short answer: yes.
           | 
           | Long answer: I think that the more minds there are working on
           | this (or any other interesting) problem, the more progress
           | will be made. And we shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy
           | of the good enough.
           | 
           | The field of robotics, and especially soft robotics like
           | this, is so new and uncharted that individuals tinkering in
           | their garage can and have made real advances for the field.
           | 
           | That said, really good control systems for these kinds of
           | actuators are something very much lacking. The human nervous
           | system, and in particular the vestibular system is so
           | absurdly effective, efficient and complex all at the same
           | time that it boggles my mind. Nothing anyone has ever
           | designed has ever come close to that level of functionality.
           | But to make a robot that can do human things, we need that
           | level of functionality. We need to have really good
           | proprioception which is integrated with force and feedback
           | sensing.
           | 
           | To give an example; open a bag of potato chips and pull out a
           | decent handful. Now eat the chips one by one out of your hand
           | without dropping any and without using your other hand. I
           | dare say you can probably do this, and without crushing the
           | chips in your hand. You can feel just how much force to
           | apply, you can feel where to place your fingers so that all
           | the chips are held just so. You can make subtle adjustments
           | after each chip is taken away.
           | 
           | There is no robot hand in the world that can do that simple
           | task. Ask any arm amputee. And to get to that point, a lot of
           | really difficult stuff has to be invented and worked out. I
           | suspect this is a problem which will be solved piecemeal,
           | over time, but much of the fundamental work in things like
           | the mathematics of motion control, material science and
           | compliant mechanisms will come from very well funded labs. If
           | I had to guess, I give a 60% chance a robot can do the chip
           | eating task within a 5 years. And 85% within 10 years.
           | (Especially if the work of my team pays off)
        
             | fstrthnscnd wrote:
             | > There is no robot hand in the world that can do that
             | simple task.
             | 
             | Is the technology dealing with interfacing with the brain
             | good enough, even if on the arm side it's not?
        
         | naasking wrote:
         | > 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.
         | 
         | Strength is additive. Why can't you just add more smaller
         | muscle fibers that work in concert? That's basically how real
         | muscles work. This seems so obvious there must be something
         | wrong with the idea.
        
           | zakary wrote:
           | > Why can't you just add more smaller muscle fibers that work
           | in concert?
           | 
           | Great question. And yes, you can have lots of smaller ones to
           | do the work of a few larger ones. The strength (stress) comes
           | essentially from the cross sectional area of the muscle (or
           | bundle of). And no matter how thin you make the spaghetti,
           | you still need an equivalent volume of it to get the same
           | cross section, For a given length.
           | 
           | The reason speed, as in how many times a second you can make
           | it contract and lengthen, is a limiting factor comes down to
           | good old force = mass x acceleration. Want to make it go
           | faster?then you need higher pressure. So now You have a lot
           | of water you need to move at high pressure with very rapid
           | acceleration. This means the scale of the pumping equipment
           | gets prohibitive very rapidly.
           | 
           | Real muscles work at a fundamental level by a kind of
           | ratcheting mechanism between proteins that pull each other
           | together. This process can happen very quickly. Mammal
           | muscles don't need to pump lots of liquids around with high
           | acceleration and velocity. So there is actually a lot less
           | inertia from moving mass in real muscle.
           | 
           | Another issue I didn't touch on in my earlier post is that
           | this kind of muscle is very difficult to do strain and force
           | sensing with. To make motion with this kind of actuator that
           | is both rapid and smooth is extremely difficult and still an
           | open problem.
        
       | edumucelli wrote:
       | 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.
        
       | aaaaaaaaaaab wrote:
       | >forearm with hand [weighs] only 1 kg
       | 
       | * without the power source and pumps
        
         | calvinmorrison wrote:
         | * cuts arm off *
         | 
         | wow how can you even say this is a human arm? I don't even see
         | any power source!
        
       | m0zg wrote:
       | 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 wrote:
         | 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 wrote:
         | 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 wrote:
           | 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 wrote:
         | 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.
        
       | titzer wrote:
       | 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 wrote:
         | >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 wrote:
         | 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 wrote:
           | 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.
        
       | eagsalazar2 wrote:
       | 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 wrote:
         | 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
        
       | robomartin wrote:
       | Well, this technology dates back to the 1950's.
       | 
       | 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 wrote:
         | 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-a...
         | 
         | [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_tradition
         | 
         | [3] https://youtu.be/tF4DML7FIWk
        
           | robomartin wrote:
           | > I just hate how you succumb to easy thinking, an appeal to
           | tradition
           | 
           | No. I appeal to PHYSICS.
           | 
           | This isn't an emotional argument. Or one out of "tradition".
           | 
           | The reusable rocket was a question of implementation, not
           | physics. The math actually supported the idea of being able
           | to do that. It wasn't some magical juju bean Musk pulled out
           | of his behind. They did the math. The math proved you could
           | do it. They built it. It took a lot of trial and error and,
           | yes, failure, but they KNEW the math supported the concept.
           | 
           | This inflatable muscle thing (air or fluid) isn't supported
           | by the PHYSICS.
           | 
           | What do I know anyhow? I've only been in robotics since the
           | early 80's. I have literally seen <insert fantastical claim>
           | in robotics and artificial intelligence since that time. And
           | here we are, we still don't have a robot of any kind that is
           | as capable as a house fly, even with a supercomputer running
           | it remotely.
           | 
           | And that, BTW, is the test for fantastical actuators. The
           | technology has to support an amazing range in terms of scale.
           | At one extreme you have something like an ant and, opposite
           | that, an elephant. Even within a human being the range of
           | size and strength in muscles is likely 1000 to 1 (haven't
           | done the math).
           | 
           | > Boston Dynamics would have never created Atlas or Spot
           | 
           | I don't think you have a good sense of what these machines
           | are and are not. Hint: They are not what you think they are.
        
             | goldenkey wrote:
             | No, your appeal is to the "cult of science." Science is a
             | moving target. Hydraulics involves materials known as
             | hydraulic fluid. Material science is in its infancy. Your
             | appeal is nothing more than to pessimism and the edifice of
             | cocksure.
        
           | cma wrote:
           | 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.
        
           | zakary wrote:
           | It is always good to question assumptions. One you could
           | consider is the assumption that all problems are created
           | equal. This isn't the case. There are fundamental and
           | practical limits to things.
           | 
           | For this kind of artificial muscle actuator, there are
           | fundamental limits to the way the physics works for this
           | design which prevent it from ever simultaneously having good
           | efficiency in energy and power density, high strain and high
           | frequency operation. There are certainly ways to make
           | artificial muscles work, but hydraulics is not the way.
           | 
           | For rockets and space vehicles, the limit has more to do with
           | technology and material science.
        
             | goldenkey wrote:
             | Material science is part of hydraulics. The hydraulic fluid
             | could end up being next-gen.
        
       | imtiyaz wrote:
       | For the first time I have seen something like this. It's an
       | amazing demo video.
        
       | feelandcoffee wrote:
       | 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.
        
       | postalrat wrote:
       | Why does it sound like servos? With those type of artificial
       | muscles I'd expect to maybe hear valves, not servos.
        
         | mikewarot wrote:
         | 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 wrote:
         | I'm pretty sure the sounds you hear (which resemble the sounds
         | an articulating-arm desklamp makes) are the 'ligament'
         | attachment points and joints.
        
       | verytrivial wrote:
       | 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
        
         | micromacrofoot wrote:
         | 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 wrote:
           | 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
        
             | micromacrofoot wrote:
             | Physics certainly makes fools of us all.
        
         | Robotbeat wrote:
         | Putting the pumps in the torso is a good idea. Putting them
         | inside the arm itself increases the inertia of the arm.
        
         | kobalsky wrote:
         | 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
        
       | arlattimore wrote:
       | Impressive range of movement!
        
       | juliusz_t wrote:
       | 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
        
       | espadrine wrote:
       | 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
        
         | KronisLV wrote:
         | > 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?
        
         | jaclaz wrote:
         | >The ideal consumption necessary to raise this 7 kg dumbbell by
         | 1 meter in 1 second is 7 watts.
         | 
         | You sure?
         | 
         | A HP is 75 Kg raised by 1 meter in 1 second (and is roughhy 750
         | W): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsepower
         | 
         | Raising 1/10th of the weight by same distance in the same time
         | should be 1/10th of that i.e. 70-75 W.
        
           | progbits wrote:
           | Yeah it is wrong. 68W ideal, assuming pure conversion to
           | potential energy with no loss:
           | 
           | https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=7kg*1m*%289.8m%2Fs%5E2.
           | ..
        
           | amelius wrote:
           | energy = force times distance
           | 
           | force = 7kg times 10N/kg = 70N (roughly)
           | 
           | So yes, more like 70W
        
             | jaclaz wrote:
             | Good, so if we take for good the mentioned 20% efficiency
             | of human muscles[1], the robotic arm wins largely, as
             | 70W/0.2=350 W vs. the declared 200 W of the robotic arm.
             | 
             | (I still doubt that the robotic arm can be almost twice as
             | efficient as a human arm, however, so probably the 20% is
             | not accurate or there is some other factor involved) .
             | 
             | [1] which I have no idea if correct even roughly
        
         | zzzzzzzza wrote:
         | > achieve human immortallity [sic] by transplanting the brain
         | into the machine
         | 
         | the intuition is that it's probably easier to figure out how to
         | keep a brain alive than an entire body alive
        
           | spacecity1971 wrote:
           | Your intuition is correct, and it's already been done:
           | 
           | https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01216-4
        
           | Aeolun wrote:
           | Brain without a body will feel really weird though.
        
             | bserge wrote:
             | Yeah, they better connect the "feel" parts to _something_ ,
             | otherwise insanity/suicide/murder might ensue.
        
       | maxyurk wrote:
       | "... and even achieve human immortallity by transplanting the
       | brain into the machine."
        
         | arketyp wrote:
         | 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.
        
       | ecpottinger wrote:
       | What I don't see is how much hardware is needed to drive that
       | arm.
        
         | juliusz_t wrote:
         | 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.
        
         | agumonkey wrote:
         | 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
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | amelius wrote:
       | Next: sensory input?
        
         | juliusz_t wrote:
         | 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.
        
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