from the I-get-up-and-nothin'-gets-me-down dept.
New jumping device achieves the tallest height of any known jumper, engineered or biological
A mechanical jumper developed by UC Santa Barbara engineering professor Elliot Hawkes and collaborators is capable of achieving the tallest height—roughly 100 feet (30 meters)—of any jumper to date, engineered or biological. The feat represents a fresh approach to the design of jumping devices and advances the understanding of jumping as a form of locomotion.
[...] Biological systems have long served as the first and best models for locomotion, and that has been especially true for jumping, defined by the researchers as a "movement created by forces applied to the ground by the jumper, while maintaining a constant mass." Many engineered jumpers have focused on duplicating the designs provided by evolution, and to great effect.
[...] "Biological systems can only jump with as much energy as they can produce in a single stroke of their muscle," Xaio said. Thus, the system is limited in the amount of energy it can give to pushing the body off the ground, and the jumper can jump only so high.
[...] "This difference between energy production in biological versus engineered jumpers means that the two should have very different designs to maximize jump height," Xiao said. "Animals should have a small spring—only enough to store the relatively small amount of energy produced by their single muscle stroke—and a large muscle mass. In contrast, engineered jumpers should have as large a spring as possible and a tiny motor."
[...] This design and the ability to exceed the limits set by biological designs sets the stage for the reimagining of jumping as an efficient form of machine locomotion: Jumping robots could get places where only flying robots currently reach.
[...] "We calculated that the device should be able to clear 125 meters in height while jumping half of a kilometer forward on the moon," said Hawkes, pointing out that gravity is 1/6 of that on Earth and that there is basically no air drag. "That would be one giant leap for engineered jumpers."
Hopping robots have been shown to be effective for exploring.
Journal Reference:
Elliot Hawkes et al, Engineered jumpers overcome biological limits via work multiplication, Nature (2022).
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04606-3
Related Stories
Japan's Hopping Rovers Capture Amazing Views of Asteroid Ryugu (Video)
Two tiny, hopping rovers that landed on asteroid Ryugu last week have beamed back some incredible new views of the asteroid's rocky surface.
The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Hayabusa2 sample-return mission dropped the two nearly identical rovers, named Minerva-II1A and Minerva-II1B, onto the surface of Ryugu on Sept. 21. In a new video from the eyes of Minerva-II1B, you can watch the sun move across the sky as its glaring sunlight reflects off the shiny rocks that cover Ryugu's surface.
Also at Hayabusa2 project website.
takyon: Additionally, the Hayabusa2 spacecraft has returned its highest resolution view of Ryugu, from when it dropped the Minerva rovers.
(Score: 0, Troll) by driverless on Friday April 29 2022, @10:11AM
Even back then people were able to jump 200 feet in the air [youtube.com] and then scatter themselves over a wide area.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday April 29 2022, @01:49PM (3 children)
While that is interesting, there needs to be a means of controlling or cushioning a fall. This is interesting, if it's a robot and no one's around to get hurt. It's scary, if there's a human attached to that thing. Falling 100 feet doesn't usually end up with good things happening for someone.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday April 29 2022, @02:49PM (2 children)
Ideally they would land on the "hopper", recovering most of the energy released when hopping - generally speaking a spring system can absorb energy about as fast as it releases it. And as kangaroos demonstrate, spring-based hopping can be almost as efficient as using wheels, while offering numerous advantages.
However, it wouldn't be comfortable for humans unless made much weaker. To reach 30m it would have to leave the ground at over 24m/s (54mph), accelerating to that speed over its own height of 30cm - meaning an average acceleration of 8g. A human could (probably) survive a single jump with no ill effects, but I imagine actually traveling any distance that way would wreak havoc on your body.
(Score: 2) by Ken_g6 on Friday April 29 2022, @02:55PM (1 child)
The article you linked below says acceleration is 315g. That's roughly 10 times what a human can survive!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Immerman on Friday April 29 2022, @06:41PM
Does it?
I read that as saying a force of 315 gram-force (= the weight of 315 grams). 315 gravities would be a measure of acceleration, not force.
Then again the wording of section is otherwise so bad that it's probably a horrible misquote by the writer, and you may well be right. It'd have to be crazy light for 315gram-force to accelerate it that fast.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday April 29 2022, @02:23PM (1 child)
Since helicopters work so well on Mars, why not use helicopters on the moon?
<no-sarcasm>(ducks, hides under desk)</no-sarcasm>
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 4, Informative) by Freeman on Friday April 29 2022, @03:58PM
#1 The Moon has virtually no atmosphere. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LADEE/news/lunar-atmosphere.html [nasa.gov]
#2 The Moon has approximately 1/3 the gravity that Mars does and Mars is roughly 1/3 that of Earth. https://sciencetrends.com/gravity-mars-vs-moon-vs-earth/ [sciencetrends.com]
In the event that gravity was the only issue, sure, there's probably something that could be done. In the event that there's pretty much no atmosphere, you're talking more like, why can't a helicopter work in a vacuum?
Then there's the whole, some atmosphere, may actually be worse than no atmosphere issue, as far as the Moon is concerned. https://www.planetary.org/articles/20170126-moon-vs-mars-hsf [planetary.org]
Just enough atmosphere to spread around clouds of asbestos like dust, yeah, that's a problem.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 4, Informative) by Immerman on Friday April 29 2022, @02:47PM (1 child)
Another article that offers some more details (e.g. the 'bot is 30cm tall) and an embedded video:
https://www.news.ucsb.edu/2022/020619/hitting-news-heights [ucsb.edu]
(Score: 2) by hubie on Friday April 29 2022, @04:11PM
Much better article than I found. Loved the video too. Thanks!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 29 2022, @03:58PM (2 children)
Humans already jump three meters high [amazon.com] routinely and affordably.
No lunar tests of this tech yet.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday April 29 2022, @04:10PM (1 child)
While this is a video of Astronauts falling on the moon, you also see them moving by bunny like hops, instead of walking. The gravity is so low that walking is inefficient. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVNTNeNMH8Q [youtube.com]
Here's the last man to "walk" on the Moon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHeOpJh5Q-M [youtube.com] (He's more hopping than running/walking.)
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 29 2022, @05:31PM
The pressure suits worn by the Apollo astronauts really mess up any kind of normal human movement. Deforming such a suit at all will be a bit like pushing against a spring, and will require continuous effort to maintain a bent position. It's like trying to change the shape of an inflated balloon. This will be a much, much stronger effect than anything caused by the weakened gravity.
For an amusing demonstration of the mobility problems the pressure suits caused, watch Charles Duke trying to pick up the hammer after he dropped it, [youtube.com] as he struggles to bend his legs in order to reach the ground with his hands. You see him hopping in order to get an increased downward force so he can reach the hammer, while the suit is literally forcing his legs straight again.