Author Topic: Why air?  (Read 6290 times)

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Offline ArislanTopic starter

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Why air?
« on: October 18, 2006, 04:13:58 PM »
I have seen a lot of android projects using pneumatic muscles. Why not hydraulics? I would have thought that hydraulic motors were a lot more powerful. In fact, most robots in sci-fi have hydraulic pistons, not a bunch of air hoses...
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Offline Gopher

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Re: Why air?
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2006, 04:23:30 PM »
Two very good reasons come to mind immediately.

1) air is much, much lighter than any fluid, and the less weight the bot's lugging around the better
2) moving air around consumes far less energy than moving fluids around, and the less power the bot consumes the better.
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Offline ArislanTopic starter

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Re: Why air?
« Reply #2 on: October 18, 2006, 04:48:03 PM »
Do you know what type of actuator is used in Asimo?

http://asimo.honda.com/movie/wm_stream/intelligence_tech_300.wmv
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Offline Admin

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Re: Why air?
« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2006, 09:36:18 AM »
3) hydraulics are messy when they leak
4) hydraulics are more expensive

Asimo uses special servo motors custom built by Honda that has much higher strength than your typical motor . . . these motors are kept top secret and not for sale . . . sigh  :-\
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Offline Cognaut

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Re: Why air?
« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2006, 09:26:01 PM »
A gas is compressible, so it will have a more elastic behavior than a liquid.
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