Building a REAL Robot: Post #1
So I want to make a REAL robot. Not a big mechanical whirring mess of stepper motors and plastic. No. Something with a little more finesse. Something people could actually treat like a life form. Like a dog, or a cat. A bionic robot. Something that looks, sounds, feels 'real'. No whirring, no hard surfaces, or sharp corners. Damped analog movement. Something 'real'. Hopefully this will get thing moving on VBrain too.
So first things first. We gotta build a body. I want this to a be a mammal like. As empathy is what we're aiming for. A lot of folk don't like reptiles, so it wouldn't hurt for this animaloid to be warm and soft to the touch. Anyway first we need bones, muscles and tendons...
- For the skeleton I'll be using doped bolsa wood. Very light, and if you use the right dope, pretty strong. Not far from the real thing. Also ease to hand calve into nice organic shapes
- For the tendons I'll be using thread and or elastic polyurethane, also known as non-latex condoms
- for the muscles I'll be using my patent pending (not really but might be, so I'll be keeping the details sparse until this is cleared up) synthetic muscles
Maquettes are an absolute must in hackerky of a 3D nature. Here is a mark one maquette of a bionic robot arm using the above ingredients (the muscle is not finished in this picture:
Can you see what it is yet?
