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That Fine Line Between Stupid and Genius — Parallax Forums

That Fine Line Between Stupid and Genius

ercoerco Posts: 20,244
Balloon bot. From RoMeLa. Honestly? C'mon Dennis. You've lowered the bar.

http://www.botmag.com/romela-ballu/

Comments

  • erco, I have to disagree: While he was at the bar he had one too many. He was 'looking up at the bar' when he got his inspiration...
    In addition, the 'balloon bot' walks like it was hanging out at the bar too.
  • Well, it is filled with millibars...
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,244
    Bar...

    man%20walks%20into%20bar.jpg
    600 x 493 - 45K
  • MikeDYurMikeDYur Posts: 2,176
    edited 2017-03-12 15:57
    I have to agree, can not think of any conceivable use for such a robot.

    Though the idea would have possibility's for people with problems walking. Like the big Gortex winter coats that were popular once. Filled with helium, you could walk for miles without fatigue. At least far enough to get to the next bar.


    As for the picture above: That bar looks dangerous, you are either accomplished at hurdles or your not, and that hurts.
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    MikeDYur wrote: »
    I have to agree, can not think of any conceivable use for such a robot.

    Though the idea would have possibility's for people with problems walking. Like the big Gortex winter coats that were popular once. Filled with helium, you could walk for miles without fatigue. At least far enough to get to the next bar.

    With a net lift of 1.03 grams per liter it would take a pretty big balloon (or coat) to be of any use.

  • kwinn wrote: »
    With a net lift of 1.03 grams per liter it would take a pretty big balloon (or coat) to be of any use.


    It does help to put a few pints into the equation.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,244
    edited 2017-03-12 17:48
    OK, Dennis redeemed RoMeLa with this one. It's important to me for Dennis & RoMeLa to keep raising the bar since both started at my alma mater, Virginia Tech. Go Hokies!

    A really neat layout, might have to make one like this someday.

  • MikeDYur wrote: »
    I have to agree, can not think of any conceivable use for such a robot.

    Though the idea would have possibility's for people with problems walking. Like the big Gortex winter coats that were popular once. Filled with helium, you could walk for miles without fatigue.
    That's an interesting thought: I wonder if a ballast tank could be designed with a mechanism to compress the gas for an underwater ROV?
    I want to be clear: the 'balloon bot' has a 'new problem'. It has to be kept away from breezes and pins but the ballast idea might be workable for a UROV.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,244
    edited 2017-03-13 00:09
    lardom wrote: »
    I wonder if a ballast tank could be designed with a mechanism to compress the gas for an underwater ROV?

    Several new airships tout "variable buoyancy" by compressing helium to maintain equilibrium, among them Aeroscraft.

    It's amazing that the 1960 deep-diving bathyscaphe "Trieste" used a giant tank of gasoline for buoyancy. Yeah, gasoline. Because fluids don't compress.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathyscaphe_Trieste

    trieste.png

  • ercoerco Posts: 20,244
    Attaching Trieste diagram as png, forum didn't like svg format.

    546 x 317 - 50K
  • lardomlardom Posts: 1,659
    edited 2017-03-13 04:09
    A quote from the "Aeroscraft" article:" I realized we could compress the helium inside special chambers and give the ship more or less lift."
    That's kind of what I was thinking. The gas could be pumped into a compression tank to control buoyancy.
    BTW, didn't the Trieste make it almost to the Marianas trench? The thought of the pressure on that thing would make me toss in my sleep...
  • TorTor Posts: 2,010
    kwinn wrote: »
    MikeDYur wrote: »
    I have to agree, can not think of any conceivable use for such a robot.

    Though the idea would have possibility's for people with problems walking. Like the big Gortex winter coats that were popular once. Filled with helium, you could walk for miles without fatigue. At least far enough to get to the next bar.

    With a net lift of 1.03 grams per liter it would take a pretty big balloon (or coat) to be of any use.
    But even so, it wouldn't help much.. walking, in the way we have evolved it, is a good fit to our environment (the gravity etc). It's quite efficient. Most of the energy put into walking is returned on the next step. If you try walking hanging under a great baloon you would find it very inefficient, with your feet barely touching ground.

    It would help if you're severely overweight though (we didn't evolve to cover that).

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