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From: Donald.Heller@jpl.nasa.gov (Don Heller)
Subject: Re: Will robots make better sex partners?
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References: <1yXJqc1w165w@sfrsa.com> <elaan.116.000D546B@duteisp.et.tudelft.nl> <ASMITH.94Aug5101855@zuggle.East.Sun.COM>
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 1994 21:12:55 GMT

In article <ASMITH.94Aug5101855@zuggle.East.Sun.COM> asmith@zuggle.East.Sun.COM (Adam Smith) writes:
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>From: asmith@zuggle.East.Sun.COM (Adam Smith)
>Newsgroups: comp.robotics
>Subject: Re: Will robots make better sex partners?

>   Let discussion start,  Erik.
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>Hi all, and thanks you two for starting this thread.


>I wonder if a many-wheeled or a treaded vehicle could do what Dante
>has done?  The legged style seems to be fairly appropriate for broken
>terrain, but it has its problems if you want less than 8 or 10 legs
>(stability, etc) and an 8 or 10 leg system has to be fairly complex to
>work with.  Has anyone out there worked with robots having that many
>legs?  "Spider" robots or something?

>Here's a wierd idea, but has anyone ever heard of work on treaded
>feet?  That is, give a robot several largish "feet" at the end of
>legs, so the walking was possible, but put treads on each foot so that
>with the legs locked out, the treads could be engaged and a 'rolling'
>mode of travel used instead of a 'walking' mode.  I suppose it could
>be wheels rather than treads.  Think  R2D2 with longer legs and knees.

>Adam

I've played with the opposite idea (gedanken, no hardware), a tank-type
tread with a pair of legs attached to each segment; in motion, it would
look like a centipede.  If the legs were telescoping, like a shock absorber,
rough terrain could be handled.  My original idea was for climbing stairs,
motivated by a search for a better wheelchair. 

Don

