I had to stop trying to make sense of the mechanism once my brain started leaking out my ears.
They are obviously dealing with some dark demonic forces.
Do the motors have to move in a coordinated manner? I initially thought white rods of the drive mechanism had to be free to rotate. (I highlighted these white rods in the image below.)
I was thinking the white rods where kind of like the beads surrounding an omni wheel. But then it looks like these rods are also driven. I'm going to stop thinking about this for now while I have some brains left.
Here's another mind bending (to a lesser extent) device.
It took me a bit to figure out what was going on but once I realized what was happening, I was able to put my mind at ease. Each of these circles is an integer multiple of the smallest circle. I think it's a fun "puzzle". I've been trying to figure out a practical application for it.
I was pleased to see Oskar released the STL files for the gadget. I'm tempted to 3D print a set even though I don't know how I'd use it.
The crazy ball joint mechanism would be a lot harder to 3D print.
WRT the original spherical gear, it's impressive but requires pitch & roll motors & encoders on each drive gear. More complicated than a stack of servos. And there are lots of compromises in the gear teeth: smaller/weaker, large pitch required, sliding contact, and lots of rubbing friction & play in that large spherical bearing. I think it would be weak and wear quickly.
I sound like a nit-picky old curmudgeon. But it IS cool and I wish I had thought of it!
Thanks for the link. I don't think I could model it myself. It will be interesting to see how far the Floating In the Clouds guy gets.
One of the things I don't understand is how the "Differential pinion" meshes with the "Monopole Gear" at all locations of the Monopole Gear. How does the section circled in red mesh with the section circled in blue? It sure seems like the Differential pinion would need the same number of teeth as the Monopole Gear in order for the strange shape of the teeth to match up.
I would have thought the Monopole Gear would have a conventional drive gear off to one side.
The picture is from time 1:58 of video linked in erco's second post (the same video linked to by the "floatingintheclouds" article).
Certainly some manner of sorcery and witchcraft befall this creator and his confounded invention!
Related, I just found one of my favorite (very) short stories online, "Newton's Gift", where a fanboy travels back in time to give his hero Sir Isaac Newton a calculator to speed up his progress. Hilarity ensues. http://www.williamflew.com/omni4d.html
I bet you (Duane) and many people will enjoy that short read including @"Ken Gracey" and @"Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)"
Comments
This longer version gives a bigger headache.
I had to stop trying to make sense of the mechanism once my brain started leaking out my ears.
They are obviously dealing with some dark demonic forces.
Do the motors have to move in a coordinated manner? I initially thought white rods of the drive mechanism had to be free to rotate. (I highlighted these white rods in the image below.)
I was thinking the white rods where kind of like the beads surrounding an omni wheel. But then it looks like these rods are also driven. I'm going to stop thinking about this for now while I have some brains left.
Here's another mind bending (to a lesser extent) device.
It took me a bit to figure out what was going on but once I realized what was happening, I was able to put my mind at ease. Each of these circles is an integer multiple of the smallest circle. I think it's a fun "puzzle". I've been trying to figure out a practical application for it.
I was pleased to see Oskar released the STL files for the gadget. I'm tempted to 3D print a set even though I don't know how I'd use it.
The crazy ball joint mechanism would be a lot harder to 3D print.
Very cool, young Duane! I like that very much.
WRT the original spherical gear, it's impressive but requires pitch & roll motors & encoders on each drive gear. More complicated than a stack of servos. And there are lots of compromises in the gear teeth: smaller/weaker, large pitch required, sliding contact, and lots of rubbing friction & play in that large spherical bearing. I think it would be weak and wear quickly.
I sound like a nit-picky old curmudgeon. But it IS cool and I wish I had thought of it!
This guy is attempting to do it: https://www.floatingintheclouds.com/active-ball-mechanism-joint/
Thanks for the link. I don't think I could model it myself. It will be interesting to see how far the Floating In the Clouds guy gets.
One of the things I don't understand is how the "Differential pinion" meshes with the "Monopole Gear" at all locations of the Monopole Gear. How does the section circled in red mesh with the section circled in blue? It sure seems like the Differential pinion would need the same number of teeth as the Monopole Gear in order for the strange shape of the teeth to match up.
I would have thought the Monopole Gear would have a conventional drive gear off to one side.
The picture is from time 1:58 of video linked in erco's second post (the same video linked to by the "floatingintheclouds" article).
Certainly some manner of sorcery and witchcraft befall this creator and his confounded invention!
Related, I just found one of my favorite (very) short stories online, "Newton's Gift", where a fanboy travels back in time to give his hero Sir Isaac Newton a calculator to speed up his progress. Hilarity ensues. http://www.williamflew.com/omni4d.html
I bet you (Duane) and many people will enjoy that short read including @"Ken Gracey" and @"Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)"