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Rocket-Powered Bionic Arm Successfully Tested
amigoro writes "A rocket-powered bionic arm has been successfully developed and tested by a team of mechanical engineers at Vanderbilt University as part of a $30 million military program to develop advanced prosthetic devices for next generation of super-soldiers."
Welcome our new robotic overlords...
I know, but somebody has to say it.
Some days I get the sinking feeling Orwell was an optimist.
I first read that as Rocket-Propelled Bionic Arm and thought, what's this? Mazinger Z?
Then I read it again and, it's not much better. Off to RTFA...
but I'm sure I want one.
Rocket exhaust is high-velocity, low thrust. For a mechanical arm, you need like 1/100th the velocity, and lots of thrust.
In other words, rocket powered arms are like trying to drag race with your transmission in like 30'th gear.
I used it to give myself a dutch rudder, and it was pretty good
I can imagine coming across a similar title in the science fiction section at a movie store: 'Invasion of the Robots with Rocket-Powered Bionic Arms'
So this is why I pay my taxes every year.
The valves are connected to the spring-loaded joints by belts made of a special monofilament used in appliance handles and aircraft parts and a small sealed canister of hydrogen peroxide that easily fits in the upper arm can provide enough energy to power the device for 18 hours of normal activity. Does it make a choo-chooo sound when you're punching anyone?
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
There's no rockets involved, it's actually steam powered, fueled by rocket fuel (hydrogen peroxide).
Bionic Commando
Aw yeah. That's some rocket-and-bionic power right there! Did you see what he did to Hitler?
can you mastrabate with it? Come on this is Slashdot, you were thinking it too.
YES! My sex life just got a lot easier! ... :(
Sounds like a super fuel cell to me...
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
Giving a rocket powered bionic arm to a 19 year old soldier thousands of miles away from his girlfriend? This can only end in tragedy.
load "$",8,1
So... to be a next generation super soldier, they must remove my arm?
Check out the video on vandy's website. I love the last few seconds where the robotic are is about to cap someone!
...part of a $30 million military program to develop advanced prosthetic devices for next generation of super-soldiers
Wars not make one great!
Didn't it occur to anyone that the reason DARPA might be interested in this is the hundreds of vets with missing limbs who have a need for better prosthetics? The military applications of this technology seems marginal at best. I'm sure DARPA is funding all sorts of military robotics research (in fact, I know they are), but this sure as hell isn't it.
There is a catalytic heat and steam source using hydrogen peroxide as fuel, but I can't find a rocket anywhere in TFA other than in the headline.
With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter. -- William Lloyd
....packs a helluva punch
Does it run Linux?
"... our new robot underarms?"
Does anyone else see the potential downfall to this? I mean, surely this will lead to an army of rocket powered bionic arms that self-replicate, and eventually consume this entire universe, thus causing it to implode? Sure, we can rely on the potential to slip into the other universe, but are we ready to take that gamble?
First thing I thought of when I heard "military" and "rocket powered bionics". It's not actually a rocket, but a steam-powered bionic arm is hella badass too! Auto-mail?
If there ever comes a time when I only have one arm, please don't send me (back) into battle.
Thanks so much.
A Super Soldier should have all his/her parts still attached. The other path leads to the Dark Side.
Thanks again.
Operator, give me the number for 911!
I can't help but wonder if this is like the idea of the seven-league boots; that, in one stride, allow the wearer to travel (classically) 21 miles or (Roman) 10.5 miles. Groin strain seems the inevitable corollary to this. Oddly enough, from the earlier comments, it seems that's the presumed outcome of this development too...
We should all stop to think for a moment: just because we can, should we? Won't anyone think of the soldiers?
I much prefer the idea of a steam-powered bionic arm than a rocket-powered one. I myself would like to see someone typing on the steampunk keyboard at breakneck speeds with such an arm. Rocket-powered arms are better for breaking things, though.
Sounds more like a complicated steam engine to me.
I did RTFA - at least the first level.
Yes, it's a steam engine. (The steam is switched through valves and pushes on pistons to achieve motion.)
Not a rocket. (No blast of burning gases out an opening causing motion by recoil.)
Not a fuel-cell or even a steam generator. (The steam powers the motion directly by pressure, not indirectly by driving a generator to power an electric motor.)
So we now have a working steampunk / gaslamp fantasy robot arm.
Wonder if that's how "Mr Tock" worked. B-)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
What is the energy efficiency of the actin/myosin that powers animal muscles?
And what is the efficiency of driving those proteins with mechanical force to produce energy? Can that energy be harvested as electrons or photons, rather than just reversing the ATP hydrolysis that usually powers their mechanics?
And finally, what's the lifecycle efficiency of manufacturing synthetic actin/myosin fibers and the energetics infrastructure to power them, or be powered by them?
--
make install -not war
Err, umm.....Never mind. Forget I asked.
Have gnu, will travel.
"Is that a rocket you are hugging me with or are you just happy to see me?"
...Vanderbilt University reported a work-related injury to the OSHA wherein an employee who is as yet unidentified was seriously injured in his groin. Confidential sources say there was a lot of blood and a violently ripped off body part involved. We await further news on this development.
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
Shame this gear won't be ready (or funded) for the guys returning from Iraq RIGHT NOW.
They just get moldy 'recovery rooms' and a pat on the back for their service in an optional police action.
Blar.
This is what he was thinking when he said "One of these days Alice.... Bang, Zoom, to the Moon!"
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."
Groovy!
PS: Amusingly, the Captcha word for this submission is "backhand"...
I would rather wait for military grade Nitinol/Flexinol Muscle Wires http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_wire. But I bet we are decades from good performance with this kind of technology since its temperature dependent.
Sounds like something Willie E. Coyote would design. That is, if we had no prior art on the subject...
Anyone else plug the six-million dollar man into an inflation calculator and scare themselves ;) If you back up a year or two to the book it is spot on :)
This sounds like a precursor to the android technology in the anime Heatguy J. Sweeeet! Occasionally the cyborg J has to let off steam when he's been using a lot of power.
The Vanderbilt Exploration website has video of the arm in action.
n icarm.html
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/exploration/stories/bio
What if it scorches me when i beat off?
The Army prefers not to put powered vehicles on the front line because
(1) they require refueling, and fuel is a supply/logistics problem, and
(2) they make noise, and
(3) being mechanical, they break.
Loading up each soldier with enough H2O2 to get through the day would require stocking and maintaining equipment for this stuff. Running out of H2O2 before you can get refueled will result in removing the equipment so it won't detract from action, and that will result in soldiers abandoning it rather than run around burdened by something they can't use.
Sitting around making a hissing noise makes one a target even in the dark.
Putting a non-combatant like a mechanic/armorer on the front line is a bad idea because they can get killed, leaving you with useless armor. If this happens, or if it breaks and you don't send a mechanic/armorer because they're a burden themselves, it will result in the same abandoning noted above. Electrical devices break down less than mechanical and make them more likely to be adopted and used.
If H2O2/catalyst devices are capable of producing sufficient power, they'd be being developed for use in fuel cells (which still requires the rear line placement), which could recharge battery powered armor (which doesn't have near the other problems). To be efficient it would require high purity stuff, which is hard to produce, and requires difficult and expensive maintenance no matter how far back it's made and stored. Even so, it'd be better from a logistic and tactical stand point to develop hydrogen based fuel cells to charge battery powered armor, running off the hydrogen from the fuels they're already going to be carting around -- unleaded, diesel and JP4/8.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
When I saw the word "rocket", I imagined a reaction engine of some sort. Like, a rocket nozzle sticking out of the forearm. The actual design is of course a lot more reasonable, but the "rocket" moniker is a bit misleading, and I suspect it was there just to sound fancy. :/
CARMEN: Games & Theory? That's Military Intelligence... Oh, Carl!
JOHNNY: Whoa Way to go, boy-yo!
RECRUITING SERGEANT: Next time we meet, I'll probably have to salute you. What about you, son?
JOHNNY: Infantry, sir.
RECRUITING SERGEANT: Well, good for you. The Mobile Infantry made me the man I am today.
You can't take the sky from me...
It's not a reaction engine, so it's not a rocket. It's an expansion engine... the same basic principle as any gasoline or steam engine, with the working fluid being steam generated from internal combustion.
The 'Vanderbilt' university even sounds like one of Foglio's ideas.
I love it when fact and fiction meet in the middle!
Read Girl Genius! A fine comic about, as Phil puts it, "Romance and Adventure in the Steam Age."
wouldn't it be a more accurate headline to say, "steam powered bionic arm successfully tested" ?
Bite my shiny, rocket-powered, metal ass!
Ha-hahahaha!
Ripley steps out, WEARING TWO TONS OF HARDENED STEEL. THE POWER LOADER. Like medieval armor with the power of a bulldozer. She takes a step...the massive foot CRASH-CLANGS to the deck. She takes another, advancing.
"RIPLEY: Get away from her, you b?tch!"
I can see it now...sweet.
Sadly can't read the article it's /.'ed The fluff piece wasn't interesting, maybe I will read the Vanderbilt on later.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
The Iron Fist of War
Here's the link to the video which shows the arm in action and talks a little about how it is made.
The magical number is: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
This is a steam powered artificial limb. It has nothing to do with rocket power (thrust produced by ejecting reaction mass) other than the fuel.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
When it comes to combining rockets and human limbs, well, somehow in that context "rocket" really says "penis" more than "arm" to me...
with special peroxide generating organ.
I'm sure it is useful for the handicapped but my arms are considerably stronger than the RPA and I'm 60.
I really resent the implication that this research is being done to create 'super soldiers'.
Clearly this technology is working to get to the level where it could replace a fully functioning human arm. Why would the military want such a device when the human arm is still better?
Gosh, probably because a lot of troops are losing limbs in Iraq/Afghanistan, and the military is trying to take care of them. This is not a new idea, the military has always been on the cutting edge of prosthetics because unfortunately they are some of the biggest users of prosthetic limbs.
Most of the people who receive these limbs will still be medically discharge, which some rare exceptions, so this research is not designed to return wounded warriors to the line of fire, it instead designed to take care of those who have been forced to sacrifice a limb for their country/military.
Bottom line is that the military isn't often the conspiracy machine people think it is. This is clearly the result of some real human being working in the Pentagon (or somewhere) that think the right and humane thing to do is to try to improve the lives who have worked for the military, not some Dr. Evil scheme to take over the world.
Not a single thing about the preview matches the article. Well, the prosthetic arm bit...but that's it. No rocket motor. No super-soldiers. It isn't even fully developed.
Notmysig
Summary, not preview. Preview is the button I should have used.
Notmysig
09:F9:11:02 - 9D:74:E3:5B - D8:41:56:C5 - 63:56:88:C0
Site's down. ...so a rocket powered prosthetic arm eh?...
I guess it'll make it easier to find a shoplifter equipped with one....just follow the vapor trail.
There are 2 groups of people you can make fun of on the Internet without fear of attack. The illiterate, and the Amish.
"Figby, why aren't the troops saluting me?"
."
"Sir, they don't want to wind up in the infirmary, like when General Havermeyer reviewed them."
"What?"
"Ah, but it was beautiful, Sir. The whole camp, passing in review, snapping their new powered arms up in perfect salutes . . . too much sun on the hardware . . . a firmware bug not caught in testing . . .
"You mean?"
"Fifteen hundred simultaneous concussions, Sir."
"What?!"
"They dropped in well-ordered lines, north-to-south, toes straight up. A credit to the training officers, if you ask me, Sir."
Any sufficiently advanced technology is insufficiently documented.
If this baby ever hits the market, it's time to by stock in Hydrogen peroxide producers.
This is so funny... I keep seeing a machined brass arm with whistles on the valves, so the thing plays like a calliope when ever it moves... Oh! Oh! Oh! and it has this little Babbage engine as it's controller!!!
http://es.geocities.com/midithebeatles/video/yello w.htm
What was once true, is no longer so
Battle Angel Alita. There, I've said it.
In the end of the video though the last object the robot picks up is a pistol. Anybody notice they don't make the robot pull the trigger?
I thought her name was Gally.
for those of us with content filtering at work, could you define a 'dutch rudder'???
After the Six Million Dollar Man, we had the Bionic Woman.
Now that we have the Thirty Million Dollar Man, a new Bionic Woman to having the missile-launching bionic breasts would be a natural progression.
Won't be spankin' the monkey until that gets an upgrade as well.
Hope is the currency of fools
Is this really a good idea? Can't you see the poor soldiers accidentally decapitating themselves when they salute?
Just think, the rocket power could rip off your body at practically hypersonic speeds! If it kills someone, you could be charged with murder because you should have known that a malfunction could reasonably have caused death! Alternatively, you can use it to fly to work and avoid the traffic. Due to the landing, however, you will be removed from the gene pool -- though that does help keep the population in check and maintain a sustainable population.
Having someone complete the act of masturbation by pulling up and down on the forearm, while the male holds his own penis.
SnackCake gave Tonkin a Dutch Rudder, because they are two freaky people who like to try new things.
tags masturbation sex acts kinky sex play tonkin snackcake
by nfkiller Canada May 10, 2006 email it
When a man masturbates, and another person grabs his arm and makes him do the motion. It's sort of like a cross between masturbation and a handjob. He is still holding on, but the other person is still moving your arm.
She gave him a dutch rudder last night.
tags sex act masturbation group thing new handjob tonkin
by Some Crate Denver May 10, 2006 email it
Noun - Halfway between masturbation and a handjob. i.e. when a man has his own hand on his penis but someone else is controlling the motion.
SpinalTapp gave me the ole' dutch rudder one summer up on brokeback.
tags hand job masturbation whacking off jerking off brokebackin' it
by Josh Edwards denton texas May 11, 2006 email it
In the 70s we could get an arm, two legs, and an eye for only $6 million.
Tm
Support TBI Research: http://www.raisinhope.org
Up next: high-viscosity Teflon-based hand lotion.
Seriously though, a bionic arm for soldiers? Couldn't those engineers have just invented robotic women? Plus, my understanding is that for every 72 of those we send, that's one less suicide bomber we have to deal with. And how tough could that even be? I mean, their virgins are covered head to foot in *burkas*. We could probably get away with throwing a few helium balloons under a burka-length black cloth. "Getcha 72 virgins, right here, right now. All ya gots ta do is leave us the !$@#$ alone."
If one floats away, we just claim she's "floating up to heaven". Then they'll grab the remaining 71 real tight and, depending on how hefty those suicide bombers are, possible float away themselves. And if not, well, if you see a guy walking around holding 72 burka covered balloons, just wait until he's well away from crowds, and pop one. I'll bet those suicide bombers react badly sudden loud noises. Either way, problem solved.
The article summary is completely wrong. I am a member of the Univ. of Utah team working on the neural control part of the DARPA revolutionizing prosthetics project. I can tell you definitively that this project is solely aimed at helping injured veterans. They have made a point of having the scientists and engineers working on this project meet people who have lost limbs while serving their country. It was very moving and motivational to meet these soldiers in person. I am pretty sure that the technology will also be made available to civilian amputees.
be very sad when it seems the only reason why emergency medicine evolves is to sustain the war-industry and its workers and victims... sounds like both cause and effect...
I don't feel like it...