Wow, the situational awareness mast “Zippermast” from Geosystems is very clever! via Hizook.
The situational awareness mast (or Zippermast) from Geosystems Inc. is a telescoping linear actuator that can vertically translate a robot’s sensor suite for better visibility. In this video, a Zippermast is affixed to an I-Robot Packbot…
10 thoughts on “Situational awareness mast “Zippermast””
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I don’t think using a solar mirror to advertise your position ( or the robot’s, actually) is a good idea. I’m talkin about the shiny surfaces of the demo machine.
otehrwise, the zippermast is a simply brilliant piece of engineering! Clever, wot?
So great! I’ve built a few CG robot rigs for movies that had impossibly large parts coming out of them — we just call it “magic metal”. Now I finally have a better explanation!
That is genius. I guess the edges are rolled up like a tape measure? Now I wish I had a project to try this on…
Arrange a mesh of these zippermast units so that you have a structure that can expand and deform. Think geodesic domes or even huge structures in orbit that form mirrors or antenna, with flexible material forming the faces of the geometry.
Or do the same thing at the nano-scale and you have a smart material that can take on any form required, think robo-amoeba.
Awesome idea with game changing potential, and yet so simple.
dan@tekgnu.com
Looks the same as the Ribbonlift I saw four years ago. I wonder if there is a licensing agreement or a patent infringement issue here.
http://www.actuasystems.com/