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Comments on IMPASS Robot 'Smart Wheel' Video
They're making great progress with Neal Stephenson's 'smart wheels' - take a look at the video. (Read
the complete story)
| "Engineers and historians may recall the Pedrail Wheel, invented in 1903.
'The tread consists of a number of rubber shod feet which are connected by ball-and-socket joints to the ends of sliding spokes. Each spoke has attached to it a small roller which in its turn runs under a short pivoted rail controlled by a powerful set of springs. This arrangement permits the feet to accommodate themselves to obstacles even such as steps or stairs...' (Thanks to Stephen Thomas for pointing this out.)" |
| "Arthur C. Clarke also proposed the idea when describing the moon rover in the book version of 2001: A Space Odyssey that took Heywood Floyd and the other officials to visit the Tycho crater monolith. (As opposed to the flying "moon bus" of the movie.) He called it the "flex wheel" IIRC. Describing it as a series of spring-loaded telescoping spokes with a pad on each one. " (AJ Dual 2/4/2010 3:42:57 PM) |
| "Hmm, I should have remembered that since I have it on my own site. See the entry for flex wheels." (Bill Christensen 2/4/2010 7:00:19 PM) |
Get more information on IMPASS Robot 'Smart Wheel' Video
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Tediously, spammers have returned; if you have a comment, send it to bill at this site (include the story name) and I'll post it.
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