a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
The Quantum-Classical Transition on Trial: Is the Whole More Than the Sum of the Parts? by Hideo Mabuchi One quote that I really like came from my thesis adviser, Jeff Kimble (the Valentine Professor and professor of physics), and appeared on page 2 of the February 18, 1997, New York Times as the Quotation of …
Read More “2002 – Human-powered Mechanical Elephant – Caltech (American)”
From the late 1960's through to the mid 1980's, various Russian hobby magazines published plans for model walking machines. Here are a few of them (in Russian): click image for pdf.
PrOP-M is now at the museum in St.Petersburg. PrOP-M (Device Evaluation Terrain – Mars) [Note: the acronym only works in Russian] ПрОП-Ðœ (Прибор Оценки ПроходимоÑти – МарÑ) Mass………………………………………………4 kg Overall dimensions…………………………215x160x60 mm Travel speed……………………………………1 m/h Power consumption………………………………5 W Customer: Lavochkin Association. (First translated article) Two automated rovers reached Mars in 1971 during a mission the Mars …
Above stills from the video clip. The mechanical model was developed at the Institute VNIITRANSMASH (St. Petersburg). The parameters of the machine are the follows: body length 0,6 m and body width 0,25 m, weight 40 kg, length of leg 0,4 m (Efimov et al., 1982). Efimov, V., Kudriasev, M. & Titov, A.(1982). Investigation of Robotics Systems, chap. …
Read More “1979 – 6-legged Walking Machine – Efimov et al (Soviet)”