Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
These Robot Legs Are Made For, Well, Walking
You can't have realistic Terminator robots without robotic legs that present accurate representations of human gait. University of Arizona engineers have done an amazing job of replicating human leg motions.
(Biologically accurate robot walking legs)
The body is based on principles derived from human muscular architecture, using muscles on straps to mimic agonist/antagonist muscle action as well as bifunctional muscles. Load sensors in the straps model Golgi tendon organs. The neural architecture is a central pattern generator (CPG) composed of a half-center oscillator combined with phase-modulated reflexes that is simulated using a spiking neural network. We show that the interaction between the reflex system, body dynamics and CPG results in a walking cycle that is entrained to the dynamics of the system. We also show that the CPG helped stabilize the gait against perturbations relative to a purely reflexive system, and compared the joint trajectories to human walking data.
Researchers hope that a better understanding of human locomotion will help develop new therapies for disabled people.
Update 28-Feb-2025: In his interesting 1949 story The Cybernetic Brain, science fiction writer Charles Recour describes a prosthetic leg with a brain:
It was an artificial leg, so cleverly and so artfully designed that it could hardly be told from a real one. Dr. Schmidt handed it to Larry. “Feel it,” he said, beaming, “it’s made of plastic and titanium. It doesn’t weigh very much.”Larry hefted the incredibly real contraption. To the touch, it felt as if it were made of human flesh. Its lightness was due to its being made of titanium, a metal as strong as steel, but much lighter. Its upper portion carried a web strap-and-belt arrangement for attaching, to the thigh.
('The Cybernetic Brain' by Charles Recour)"[Dr. Clydestone] will bring out the desired nerve endings from the end of the stump. He’ll connect them through platinum wires to little cable connectors... to seven nerve-endings protruding from his flesh, terminating, in ordinary electrical connections!"
But it was not the leg itself which was the real impressive agent; rather it was the electronic brain and the servo-mechanisms servicing it. Servomechanisms were simply electric or hydraulic motors whose motion was precisely controlled from a distance by electronic means.
The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain, through the mediation of the electronic brain in the leg. It might be said that the artificial leg was a robot.
End update.
Via MedGadget.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/9/2012)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Artificial Skin For Robots Is Coming Right Along
'... an elastic, tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.' - Harl Vincent (1934)
Robot Guard Dog On Duty
I might also be thinking of K-9 from Doctor Who.
Wearable Artificial Fabric Muscles
'It is remarkable that the long leverages of their machines are in most cases actuated by a sort of sham musculature...' HG Wells, 1898.
Dancing Robots Taught Dance Moves
'A clockwork figure would be the thing for you...' Jerome K. Jerome, 1893.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
The Zapata Air Scooter Would Be Great In A Science Fiction Story
'Betty's slapdash style.'
Thermostabilized Wet Meat Product (NASA Prototype)
There are no orbiting Michelin stars. Yet.
Could Crystal Batteries Generate Power For Centuries?
'Power could be compressed thus into an inch-square cube of what looked like blue-white ice'
India Ponders Always-On Smartphone Location Tracking
'It is necessary... for your own protection.'
Amazon Will Send You Heinlein's Knockdown Cabin
'It's so light that you can set it up in five minutes by yourself...'
Is It Time To Forbid Human Driving?
'Heavy penalties... were to be applied to any one found driving manually-controlled machines.'
Replace The Smartphone With A Connected Edge Node For AI Inference
'Buy a Little Dingbat... electropen, wrist watch, pocketphone, pocket radio, billfold ... all in one.'
Artificial Skin For Robots Is Coming Right Along
'... an elastic, tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
Robot Guard Dog On Duty
I might also be thinking of K-9 from Doctor Who.
Wearable Artificial Fabric Muscles
'It is remarkable that the long leverages of their machines are in most cases actuated by a sort of sham musculature...'
BrainBridge Concept Transplant Of Human Head Proposed
'Briquet’s head seemed to think that to find and attach a new body to her head was as easy as to fit and sew a new dress.'
Google's Nano Banana Pro Presents Handwritten Math Solutions
'...copy was turned out in a charming and entirely feminine handwriting.'
Edible Meat-Like Fungus Like Barbara Hambly's Slunch?
'It was almost unheard of for slunch to spread that fast...'
Sunday Robotics 'Memo' Bot Has Unique Training Glove
'He then started hand movements of definite pattern...'
Woman Marries Computer, Vonnegut's Dream Comes True
'Men are made of protoplasm... Lasts forever.'
Natural Gait With Prosthetic Connected To Nervous System
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain...'
