a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
Above: Keith Clark demonstrates his design for an innovative end effector which would inflate inside, and so grip, a tubular truss structure. Back in 1978, another type of end effector under study for the Space Shuttle's Remote Manipulator System (RMS) was actually a balloon. The sort of aluminium truss beams proposed for use in space construction …
Read More “1978 – Pneumatic Inflatable End Effector – Keith Clark (American)”
A Slightly different tack was taken by B. F. Goodrich in a "rubber muscle" project. If a straight piece of rubber hose with specially wound reinforcing cord is pressurized with a liquid or gas it will bend to form an arc; if more pressure is applied, the curvature increases until the hose becomes a ring. …
Read More “1967 – B.F. Goodrich “Rubber Muscle” – John S. England (American)”
Inventor Nikolai Teleshev watching the operation of an integral robot designed by him. Any further information on this inventor and robot gripper most welcomed.