81–90 of 114 posts
For anyone who wants to know more: This is an application of Jansen's linkage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jansen%27s_linkage There are other similar linkages but Jansen's is quite good. For anyone who doesn't have an idea why something like this matters or is inspiring beyond art, legged vehicles have many downsides but one big upside is that you can theoretically avoid the rubber/microplastic particulate emission…
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For some reason, I was imagining a machine with legs like a footstool. Any realistic machine like this would have large, wide feet. With proper suspension, the pressure might be low enough to not completely destroy the ground. Though, I'm struggling to see how this would be better than a wheeled vehicle: you've still got static friction between the feet and the ground… I guess maybe they're flexing less?
Yeah, large feet would reduce the pressure on the ground, though it would still suffer some effects for sure — but the goal is to avoid rubber and microplastics, so metal feet it is :) Anyway, I agree that a wheeled vehicle is probably going to win on efficiency just the same, though wheels do require better roads than legs do (eg. common example is stairs).
For anyone who wants to know more: This is an application of Jansen's linkage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jansen%27s_linkage There are other similar linkages but Jansen's is quite good. For anyone who doesn't have an idea why something like this matters or is inspiring beyond art, legged vehicles have many downsides but one big upside is that you can theoretically avoid the rubber/microplastic particulate emission…
For anyone who wants to know more: This is an application of Jansen's linkage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jansen%27s_linkage There are other similar linkages but Jansen's is quite good. For anyone who doesn't have an idea why something like this matters or is inspiring beyond art, legged vehicles have many downsides but one big upside is that you can theoretically avoid the rubber/microplastic particulate emission…
In dystopian Dark Mirror Humor, I bemused myself with the day dream thought that Michelin Star restaurants, whom are awarded 3 stars for the distance one should be willing to drive is greatest with more stars - meaning that you should be willing to make a journey to the off-beaten path to visit and eat this food (which has yet to be em-poisoned with the forever chemicals our Tires have put into all the densely populated environments, thus this Elite Food is Clean.
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> one big upside is that you can theoretically avoid the rubber/microplastic particulate emission associated with tires and wheeled vehicles if you can make legged vehicles as good as wheeled ones. How does keeping rough terrain rough help with that?
My implication is that you want rubber for nice asphalt/road surface to avoid damaging it — for comfort, other suspension components can help out instead. If you don't care about preserving the terrain (which you can when it's rough to begin with), you can just go with large surface metal feet and you should not get any rubber/microplastics, though you will get metallic dust.
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> legged vehicles have many downsides but one big upside is that you can theoretically avoid the rubber/microplastic particulate emission associated with tires and wheeled vehicles if you can make legged vehicles as good as wheeled ones. How do you square this idea with the fact that my running shoes wear out? I'm a legged vehicle, and it's clear that the soles of my shoes wear down over time and the lost mass of the…
You could wear wooden clogs or something. It would be uncomfortable but if you were a robot you wouldn't care. They would still wear out, but sawdust is less permanent than microplastics.
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My implication is that you want rubber for nice asphalt/road surface to avoid damaging it — for comfort, other suspension components can help out instead. If you don't care about preserving the terrain (which you can when it's rough to begin with), you can just go with large surface metal feet and you should not get any rubber/microplastics, though you will get metallic dust.
I believe the main issue is the rubber and chemicals from the nice road surfaces. So your argument seems like a problem looking for a solution?
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Yeah, large feet would reduce the pressure on the ground, though it would still suffer some effects for sure — but the goal is to avoid rubber and microplastics, so metal feet it is :) Anyway, I agree that a wheeled vehicle is probably going to win on efficiency just the same, though wheels do require better roads than legs do (eg. common example is stairs).
A bicycle can do stairs just fine. They're tricky, but not much more than a similarly-steep hill would be. (Of course, that's ignoring wear on the tyres from going over the edges of the steps.)
Eg. a monster truck can handle more of it, but it's impractical for a bunch of other reasons.
Similar holds for legs, but legs can usually do jumps too.