Robotic hand made from a bit of PVC pipe
The owner/creator is a friend of mine and has asked for advice on his new product. I figured my monkey army could help out. Throw some advice this way.
Advice on what? How to market it? How to turn it into an automated killing machine? How to modify it to give handjobs make sandwiches? Please be more specific.
Every aspect sans the handjobs-killing machine thing, you know price, website, anything to give it that "monkey" stamp of approval.
I officially cast suspicion on this post.
monkey stamp of approval requires free robotic hands.
I officially cast suspicion on this post.
Fine, lets go ahead and skin him alive.
*hands out torches and pitchforks*
And so history repeats itself...*sigh*
Hows about free advertising, and by advertising I mean a cruedly drawn "monkeyfilter" logo on one of the fingers.
monkey stamp of approval requires free robotic hands.
If you watched the video, you wouldn't want one. Not even for free.
And so history repeats itself
It doesn't have to repeat itself.
Less flinging, dammit.
"..Hows about free advertising.."
No, that's what you want.
Ok, so according to this (what we shall charitably term) webpage, the crappy robot hand can actually grasp objects. This is potentially attractive, but can it do this?
I got $8.2 billion US that says no way this thread ends without flinging.
Do I have the cash? No. Will I need it? No.
Not that I'm happy about that.
This is a commercial spam. Very un-dude.
If I get my arm and legs cut off in a lightsaber duel, will it help drag me to safety out of reach of the burning lava?
Yes, didn't you read? It can grasp objects.
Erm, is that guy in the oversized shirt SexyRobot's evil twin?
/flees
The fingers don't appear to move independently of each other, so in what way is this not an expensive pair of electric salad tongs?
Does the hand have enough grasping power to strangle the web "designer" responsible for that abomination of a site?
HAHAHA this is a joke! Did you watch the video! I love the guy holding it with his (real) hand while it (barely) holds on to a glass of water so he can fill up a water bottle. And people (the press?) are snapping pics left and right. Classic!
Why include individual "fingers" if they don't move independently??
Who needs robot hands, when i've got THIS!
*pulls out chopsticks*
Oops... didn't see your post, Lara, until now, just before you caused pop to come out my nose!
I'd like to hear Melody Joy Kramer's take on this product.
or LaGatta's or RoyalTrux's or...
Or Shoesworld's
I want a pair of electric salad tongs. Yes. To make my life, you know, complete and all.
The problem with the electric salad tongs how quickly they exhaust batteries. That's why my salad tongs are powered by a small 2-stroke chainsaw motor. A little vinegar, a little oil, a little gasoline, and soon I'm tossing salad like a jungle-style Paul Bunyan.
I'd say what your friend needs, more than anything else, is a better robotic hand. Normally, I charge $100/hour for consulting, but gratis, here's my a couple ideas to improve it:
1. Independent torque for each grasping finger. This ain't physics class. Cows are not spheres and everyday objects are not all cylinders.
2. Force-feedback control and awareness. It'll take more torque to hold onto a heavy down pillow than a water balloon, but guess which one "gives" more when deformed?
Fortunately for the marketplace, these 2 extraordinarily complex engineering tasks should keep your friend quite busy for a while.
Oh, and though technically this isn't a self-link, it does have the whiff of shill.
goetter wins. Thanks everyone! Drive safe!
You know, goetter, you could convert that 2-stroke to run on vegetable oil. You'd be much more eco-friendly then...
Lovely idea, but I'm still reeling in the wake of the revelation that cows are not spheres. That. changes. everything. /Jeff Goldblum-style eye-boggle
I dunno, the inventor seems to be legit, he holds a patent for his initial design - U.S. Patent # 4,685,928 granted back in '87 - and he's had press for helping out children in need of prosthetic hands/arms. While this post does seem suspect, I don't see any need to jump all over it. Perhaps it should have been labeled Curious George? What do I think? The website looks like total crap. Naviagation is crap. Which leads me to believe the hand is probably crap. Somewhat interesting, but looks like it definitely needs a lot of work. Depends on what it's being used for - e.g., it might make a cool toy for kids inclined towards tinkering with things. What chimaera said above.
Why include individual "fingers" if they don't move independently??
Perhaps if you were missing a hand, you might rather want a somewhat realistic-looking prosthetic hand than one that resembled a "clamp," regardless of its lack of indepedently-moving fingers. Sure it might look silly, but I can guarantee that to someone, somewhere, this isn't a laughing matter. Now might be time to appreciate the pair of hands you have that are typing away effortlessly on that keyboard in front of you...
Oh.
Now I feel bad.
Bad, bad monkey.
*whimpers*
Thanks guys, despite the monkey chatter you have been really helpful. I just reviewed the comments with my friend(the inventor). Sugarmilktea is right by the way, the kits are mainly used in schools, and are actually packaged by volunteers who are amputees. Alot of the money is put into other not-for-profit endeavors of his, including a pro bono medical clinic. As for the student aspect of it, I actually participated in an engineering contest with the kits. That is how I came to know the maker of them. And you guys helped get some of the main ideas of what needs improvement back to him. :)
I can absolutely see your point sugarmilktea as I hadn't considered this device to be in any way related to prosthetics (or aesthetics). As a "kit" to build, especially for young engineering type minds, I suggest s/he make the fingers controlled independently. Otherwise, this device is really too basic.
OK, here are some serious suggestions:
1. Fix the website. Hire a professional. Yes, it's going to cost a bit of money, but it's counter-productive to market something technical with a web presence as screamingly amateur as that.
2. This guy develops prostheses and has patents on it. Utilise that background: it adds legitimacy to the kit. If I hadn't taken the site's advice and googled "Ivan Yaeger", I'd never have known that. That information should be in front of me.
3. There need to be some pictures of the hand doing cool stuff. Movies are good too, but there needs to be something that I can see instantly, and fires my imagination. I'd like to see some of the grown-up kit, too.
4. Where's the arm? A hand on its own isn't quite so useful.
5. There's a story about Mr Yaeger making arms for a girl born without them. That's a great story, and one which, well told, could attract visitors to the website, especially if it had plenty of technical content. "Man builds bionic arms" - you could get that onto Slashdot or Hack a day or somewhere similar with the right kind of technically-disposed audience who would love to buy these for their kids.
i think some sort of "wrist" mechanism would be important for a lot of standard hand tasks.
protestations dutifully withdrawn. Carry on!
love the limerick Chyren.
"A man from a strange foreign land
Tried to sell us a robotic hand
It was made out of shite
Stole from some building site
And would fall apart right on command."
and soon I'm tossing salad like a jungle-style Paul Bunyan.
Heh. Heh, heh, heh.
Heh.
Monkeyfilter: Tossing Salad like a jungle-style Paul Bunyan.
give handjobsmake sandwiches? Please be more specific.