Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Inception Drive: A Compact, Infinitely Variable Transmission for Robotics

spectrum.ieee.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 53 posts

Re: Inception Drive: A Compact, Infinitely Variable Transmission for Robotics

#11

Post by thebooktocome »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #6
PaulHoule wrote: post #2

It is hard to believe it is really efficient seeing the description. I have driven cars with CVT and not been impressed.

Subaru?

I own a '16 Impreza and it really drags at low speeds. It's my only complaint with the car however, and it is better with higher octane fuel.

Re: Inception Drive: A Compact, Infinitely Variable Transmission for Robotics

#12

Post by nradov »

PaulHoule wrote: post #2

It is hard to believe it is really efficient seeing the description. I have driven cars with CVT and not been impressed.

All else being equal, cars with CVTs are usually more fuel efficient than with other types of transmissions.

Re: Inception Drive: A Compact, Infinitely Variable Transmission for Robotics

#13

Post by digikata »

cjsawyer wrote: post #4

Nice design, but I wonder about wear issues. With that many moving parts I don’t imagine it could be made durable with any cheap material.

Especially that main drive belt! It's not a normal belt. It looks like you'd need a flexible material that would accept making high-aspect, thin teeth.

Re: Inception Drive: A Compact, Infinitely Variable Transmission for Robotics

#15

Post by chadgeidel »

bullfightonmars wrote: post #8

It almost looks like they combined a CVT and a planetary gear. For those saying it has too many moving parts, consider the number of parts found in an 11-speed internally geared hub on a bicycle [1] I would be really curious to see if this inception drive could be an alternative to internally geared bike hubs. [1] https://www.sheldonbrown.com/alfine-11.html#details

It seems one of the "killer features" of this transmission is the ability to rotate in the same direction as the motor is spinning as well as the opposite direction the motor is spinning. I'm not sure if there is a lot of utility in "bicycling backwards while pedaling forwards". :-)

Still - I would imagine there are many uses outside of robotics for this transmission.

Re: Inception Drive: A Compact, Infinitely Variable Transmission for Robotics

#16

Post by readams »

thebooktocome wrote: post #11
semi-extrinsic wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Subaru?

I own a '16 Impreza and it really drags at low speeds. It's my only complaint with the car however, and it is better with higher octane fuel.

Unless you're getting premature ignition in your cylinders from compression (knock) the higher octane shouldn't matter.

Re: Inception Drive: A Compact, Infinitely Variable Transmission for Robotics

#17

Post by NegativeLatency »

bullfightonmars wrote: post #8

It almost looks like they combined a CVT and a planetary gear. For those saying it has too many moving parts, consider the number of parts found in an 11-speed internally geared hub on a bicycle [1] I would be really curious to see if this inception drive could be an alternative to internally geared bike hubs. [1] https://www.sheldonbrown.com/alfine-11.html#details

That is a gem of a website. Glad it hasn't been ruined.

Re: Inception Drive: A Compact, Infinitely Variable Transmission for Robotics

#18

Post by wpennington »

bittercynic wrote: post #5

Maybe the greatest feature is that it can have a very high ratio while avoiding Harmonic Drive related IP.

Perhaps, although Harmonic Drive has previously licensed SRI's Abacus tech from the same inventor (Alexander Kernbaum)[0]. Given the two groups are already partners in commercialization, it wouldn't be a surprise if they extend their collaboration to include this design. In any event, it will be interesting to see what happens -- especially if it remains independent of Harmonic Drive, to your point.

[0] https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardwa...

Re: Inception Drive: A Compact, Infinitely Variable Transmission for Robotics

#19

Post by ggm »

Like a lot of mechanical contrivences, if you come from a world of digital 'machines' you're tempted to say but F R I C T I O N.. The thing is that clutches, gears, back-chatter, teeth wear, this is all bread-and-butter to mechanical engineers, this stuff has been well known for years. If these people have managed to package things into an assembly which is tractable, repairable, can be scaled, and suits their purpose I say hats (and spare arms, and feet) off to them.

I suspect if you went to the room of clockwork/gears in Musee des arts et metiers in paris, you could find much of this there, but the point is, you might not find all of it, as one composition.

Thats what I love about mecha: its often like rotational lego, you add it in the right combinations and it does stuff.

(the one which gets me, is the use of diagonally mounted rotators as 'wheels' which can drive sideways: you see that on some forklifts. Its like michael jackson moonwalking for machinery...)

Re: Inception Drive: A Compact, Infinitely Variable Transmission for Robotics

#20

Post by mysterydip »

PaulHoule wrote: post #2

It is hard to believe it is really efficient seeing the description. I have driven cars with CVT and not been impressed.

I think this generally happens for two reasons: 1) CVT transmissions can generally handle less torque, so they get lower-powered engines to compensate 2) Some CVT's function with preprogrammed "shift points" for people familiar with conventional transmissions to not feel weird, ruining the main benefit of a CVT
Post reply on HN