Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Robot Tail Developed to Balance Out Human Body and Stop People From Falling Over

posted by chromas on Wednesday August 07 2019, @01:20PM   Printer-friendly
from the strap-on dept.

"upstart" writes for Sulla:

Robot tail developed to balance out human body and stop people from falling over

The strap-on appendage, known as Arque, has been developed by researchers at Keio University in Japan.

[...] The tail can be be adjusted to fit whoever is wearing it by adding or removing modular "vertebrae", the Fast Company reports .

Small weights can also be inserted inside each vertebrae to help offset the wearer's weight.

[...] Artificial muscles inside the robotic tail control its movement by contracting and expanding using an external pressurised air system that resembles a lawn mower or giant vacuum.

Because the prototype tail has to remain tethered to this system, the wearer is not able to move very far using it.

[...] The tail was presented last week at the 2019 SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles , which focuses on graphics, gaming, and emerging technology.

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Robot Tail Developed to Balance Out Human Body and Stop People From Falling Over | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 41 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Wednesday August 07 2019, @01:27PM (8 children)

    by hemocyanin (186) on Wednesday August 07 2019, @01:27PM (#877044) Journal

    Can't get video to play without disabling a bunch of protection. But I did find this version from 2009: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck5K0A6RZgM [youtube.com]

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 07 2019, @02:04PM (2 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday August 07 2019, @02:04PM (#877062) Homepage Journal

    Similar but different. While the article touts the uses for this thing on earth, I'm thinking, "With a little plumage, it might help people in weightless conditions too!" Oh yeah, baby, shake that thang!

    I've got to fault them for placement, though. The thing attaches to you, just above the small of the back, it seems. Doesn't quite look natural. They need to go lower, 3 to 5 vertebra, and get that tailbone. THAT is where the weight should be supported from.

    --
    Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.

    • (Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday August 08 2019, @02:27AM (1 child)

      by driverless (4770) on Thursday August 08 2019, @02:27AM (#877300)

      I tried to post a link to an even earlier video of a girl with a strap-on appendage but for some reason it was blocked. Not sure what it was called, they didn't mention the name Arque but I heard a name similar to that hobbit from LoTR come up once.

      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 08 2019, @01:47PM

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 08 2019, @01:47PM (#877453) Homepage Journal

        Now, why would they call it a Baggins?

        --
        Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by maxwell demon on Wednesday August 07 2019, @02:21PM (3 children)

    by maxwell demon (1608) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday August 07 2019, @02:21PM (#877073) Journal

    Here's the correct video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr1-IhEhXYQ [youtube.com]

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.

    • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday August 07 2019, @04:42PM (2 children)

      by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Wednesday August 07 2019, @04:42PM (#877152) Homepage
      Yikes, that still (c.f. hemo's vid) reacts slowly to movements after they've started to affect the precise bit of the body they're strapped to. Exactly unlike a tail, which participates in the creation of the force that begins the motion of potentially quite remote parts[*] of the body. This is biomimicry only in the most superficial level.

      [True story: I once pulled an arse muscle (G.M.) arm-wrestling, because my posture was wrong and everything is interconnected, had I had a tail, I might have pulled that as well.]
      --
      Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves

      • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Wednesday August 07 2019, @06:30PM (1 child)

        by hemocyanin (186) on Wednesday August 07 2019, @06:30PM (#877178) Journal

        Hmmm -- I think the "happy tail" is better. At least you wouldn't be tripping over pneumatic lines and carting around an air compressor.

        • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Wednesday August 07 2019, @08:52PM

          by captain normal (2205) on Wednesday August 07 2019, @08:52PM (#877223)

          Does it wag when you see a friend or a pretty woman?

          --
          "It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain

  • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Wednesday August 07 2019, @06:36PM

    by hemocyanin (186) on Wednesday August 07 2019, @06:36PM (#877181) Journal

    Must have pasted the wrong video, THIS is the one from 2009, and it's great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKyq3N1cVpg [youtube.com]