For Questions That Don't Merit Their Own Thread

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

Engineering question:  If you made a vehicle with the shoulder and arm of the Boston Dynamics robot dogs, put wheels on it instead of feet, would that be faster and more adaptable to different terrain than traditional vehicle suspensions?  (in other words, could a vehicle with all wheels suspended by a variable arm and shoulder/hip arrangement lower itself and shift its COM dynamically to perform better than most race cars on paved surfaces, and then extend the arms to be a capable off-road racer)?

 

Obviously you'd have to program it for driving rather than walking - but its the dynamics of shoulders and arms and the ability to shift COM / raise and lower the suspension as needed and each wheel independent (and likely electrically driven) that I'm wondering about

Edited February 4, 2022 by JoeSchmuckatelli

[Gargamel]

22 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Running into a mental block.  Appreciate some maths help (re: spreadsheet)

Just for fun, I'm trying to write a formula or rather create a spreadsheet that will tell me how long I've spent staring at the count-down timer for a certain game.  The timer is always 30 seconds.  I also have the total number of battles I've played - but I want to make it 'general' so that I can run how much time has been spent staring at that timer for a player who's played 10,000 battles, 15,000 battles and so on.

I want the output to be in Weeks, Days, Hours and Seconds.

Problem is, I can work out each of those separately - i.e. know that a player who's logged 20,000 battles has spent 6.94 days or 0.99 weeks of their life staring at that countdown timer; but that's not the output I hope to achieve.  What I'd rather output is something that shows a player with 25,000 battles has spent 1 week, 1 day and 12 hours, 47 minutes and 30 seconds* of their life staring at the timer.

So how do I set up the spreadsheet to run the numbers, round to the nearest whole 'week' or 'day' and then send the remainder to the next column?  Bonus, if there is no 'whole' (i.e. week), I'd like it to be zero; just showing 6 days, 17 hours, etc.?

 

Thanks in advance for anyone willing to help me out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

*(not the actual numbers, shown for example purposes)

The mod/floor option will work.... but shouldn't there be a formatting thing too?   Where it knows the number of seconds and just displays it as Day/hour/minute/sec?

 

17 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Obviously you'd have to program it for driving rather than walking - but its the dynamics of shoulders and arms and the ability to shift COM / raise and lower the suspension as needed and each wheel independent (and likely electrically driven) that I'm wondering about

A lot of race/super/hyper cars already do this for exactly those reasons. 

I had a friend who ended being a medic in another state, and we were talking shop one day years ago.   They had ambulances that would scan the road ahead with lidar or something and adjust the suspension to compensate for potholes.     I haven't seen anything about it since, I only have his word, but it makes sense for a smoother ride. 

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

12 minutes ago, Gargamel said:

The mod/floor option will work.... but shouldn't there be a formatting thing too?   Where it knows the number of seconds and just displays it as Day/hour/minute/sec?

I did the brute-force neanderthal thing once I figured out how to use the commands.  Then hid all the 'work' cells to just show output.

Wasn't pretty, but it worked.

12 minutes ago, Gargamel said:

A lot of race/super/hyper cars already do this for exactly those reasons. 

They're doing it with traditional drive trains and suspensions.  One of the big limitations for off-road vehicles is having an axle and gearbox hanging between the wheels.  While I know there are lots of traditional articulating suspensions with massive amounts of travel... I'm riffing off an idea that (I think Hyundai) some company is doing for a boxy utility vehicle with the wheels placed on arms.  The vehicle can even walk if terrain gets nasty enough - but IIRC its slow and awkward in the current iteration.

Given that the shoulder, elbow and wrist have already been invented... I'm wondering why engineering doesn't mimic nature

Edited February 4, 2022 by JoeSchmuckatelli

[kerbiloid]

32 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

If you made a vehicle with the shoulder and arm of the Boston Dynamics robot dogs, put wheels on it instead of feet, would that be faster and more adaptable to different terrain than traditional vehicle suspensions?

Boston dawgz should guard.

There is a special Hyundai concept for that, with better music.

Spoiler

 

 

Edited February 4, 2022 by kerbiloid

[DDE]

55 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Engineering question:  If you made a vehicle with the shoulder and arm of the Boston Dynamics robot dogs, put wheels on it instead of feet, would that be faster and more adaptable to different terrain than traditional vehicle suspensions?  (in other words, could a vehicle with all wheels suspended by a variable arm and shoulder/hip arrangement lower itself and shift its COM dynamically to perform better than most race cars on paved surfaces, and then extend the arms to be a capable off-road racer)?

This question reminds me of the All-Terrain, Hex-Limbed, Extra-Terrestrial Explorer (ATHLETE). Thing is, I recall it being co-developed alongside a more conventional rover with significantly greater speed...

[Gargamel]

28 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

I'm wondering why engineering doesn't mimic nature

Because wheels are the most efficient form of travel over even moderately rough surfaces.   It's not the wheel that's the problem to evolve, it's the bearings.   There are creatures that can curl up and roll quite quickly, but I'd have to imagine it's very difficult to maintain awareness over any sort of distance.  And since they're only one wheel, they'll bounce way more than anything with a suspension.  (Even man made one wheeled vehicles have some sort of suspension with rubber tires).

[StrandedonEarth]

51 minutes ago, Gargamel said:

Because wheels are the most efficient form of travel over even moderately rough surfaces.   It's not the wheel that's the problem to evolve, it's the bearings.   There are creatures that can curl up and roll quite quickly, but I'd have to imagine it's very difficult to maintain awareness over any sort of distance.  And since they're only one wheel, they'll bounce way more than anything with a suspension.  (Even man made one wheeled vehicles have some sort of suspension with rubber tires).

Yeah, I’ve pondered what a biological bearing might look like, and the best I can come up with is a claw-like gripper (think bird feet) with a mucous/lubricant liner (think slugs and snails). It would have to be an evolved instinct to use that claw to grip a wheeled shaft. Even that is sub-optimal, as the really useful invention was not the wheel, but the stationary axle. 
 

Unless it could evolve a hoof/claw that grows around a mucous layer somehow…

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

1 hour ago, kerbiloid said:

a special Hyundai concept

That's the one.  Wondering if a souped up concept would work.  There was a Mercedes concept a while back that did COM shifting - don't know what happened to it 

 

1 hour ago, Gargamel said:

Because wheels are the most efficient form of travel over even moderately rough surfaces

Oh - no I get that... I meant in the suspension of the wheels.  The articulating arms with a shoulder has interesting potential. Take the Hyundai concept and go nuts  - that kind of thing. 

Would there be an advantage to modifying that for multi surface racing? 

Edited February 4, 2022 by JoeSchmuckatelli

[tomf]

Or you could go whole hog and invent smart wheels as on YT's skateboard in snow crash where the room of the wheels are made from individual rubber pads on extendable spokes to cope with any terrain.

I guess they wouldn't be quite as good at stepping over obstacles but could be smoother and faster

 

[TheSaint]

5 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said:

Yeah, I’ve pondered what a biological bearing might look like, and the best I can come up with is a claw-like gripper (think bird feet) with a mucous/lubricant liner (think slugs and snails). It would have to be an evolved instinct to use that claw to grip a wheeled shaft. Even that is sub-optimal, as the really useful invention was not the wheel, but the stationary axle. 
 

Unless it could evolve a hoof/claw that grows around a mucous layer somehow…

So, I seem to recall (going off of a 40+ year old memory) that one of the species depicted in Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials motivated on a sphere. The creature had a muscular socket as its only foot, vaguely like a snail or a slug. When it was a young child it would pick up a small stone and start building it into a sphere with deposits from its own bodily secretions, sort of how an oyster makes a pearl. As the creature grew, it would grow its sphere to match. I wish I could remember which one it was, I'm sure there are other pictures out there. It was a unique concept.

6 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

That's the one.  Wondering if a souped up concept would work.  There was a Mercedes concept a while back that did COM shifting - don't know what happened to it 

Oh - no I get that... I meant in the suspension of the wheels.  The articulating arms with a shoulder has interesting potential. Take the Hyundai concept and go nuts  - that kind of thing. 

Would there be an advantage to modifying that for multi surface racing? 

I guess it would depend on the surfaces you plan on going over and how fast you plan on going over them. If you're just looking to drive fast down a rough road, I don't see a lot of advantage over a traditional off-road racing suspension. (KINGS! ICONS! KINGS! ICONS!) Until the road starts getting really rough. Then you can start articulating and stepping over stuff. I mean, I'm sure it would come in handy at some point. The question that comes to mind is if it would justify the mass and expense, versus just driving around obstacles you can't drive over.

[Shpaget]

Wheels are quite rare in nature, flagellum being the only known freely rotating powered body part.

[kerbiloid]

We can invent a Speedy-Sticky Omniroad Slimeblob.

A large amorphous blob of slime with a cabin inside.
The cabin is suspended in a liquid slime bearing, and is always properly oriented by the clever muscle slime around.

On the dry and plain road it quickly rolls like a ball.
On the rough ground it softens and rolls like a soft ball, flowing around the small stones and running around the big ones.
In rocks it gets even softer and pumps itself up, flowing around the upper rocks and grappling them.
To the vertical plain walls it sticks like the toy slime blob (can't recall its name).
In the dense liquids it swims. In the not dense ones it swims, too, after forming temporary water bubbles for bouyancy.
Due to its thickness, it allows to land at 20 m/s, so use only a drogue chute.

Hypothetically, it also can form legs and walk.

[TheSaint]

12 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

We can invent a Speedy-Sticky Omniroad Slimeblob.

A large amorphous blob of slime with a cabin inside.
The cabin is suspended in a liquid slime bearing, and is always properly oriented by the clever muscle slime around.

On the dry and plain road it quickly rolls like a ball.
On the rough ground it softens and rolls like a soft ball, flowing around the small stones and running around the big ones.
In rocks it gets even softer and pumps itself up, flowing around the upper rocks and grappling them.
To the vertical plain walls it sticks like the toy slime blob (can't recall its name).
In the dense liquids it swims. In the not dense ones it swims, too, after forming temporary water bubbles for bouyancy.
Due to its thickness, it allows to land at 20 m/s, so use only a drogue chute.

Hypothetically, it also can form legs and walk.

Bandersnatch with a howdah. I want to see one of those in rush hour traffic on the 405.

Edited February 4, 2022 by TheSaint

[Gargamel]

29 minutes ago, TheSaint said:

I want to see one of those in rush hour traffic on the 405.

You think people complain about snow on cars?  Wait till your.... thing... is laying down a nice slime trail... 

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

5 minutes ago, Gargamel said:

You think people complain about snow on cars?  Wait till your.... thing... is laying down a nice slime trail... 

Some sci-fi book I read had the characters riding a sled - snow sled - that laid a frozen track down before it as it travelled.

[Gargamel]

5 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Some sci-fi book I read had the characters riding a sled - snow sled - that laid a frozen track down before it as it travelled.

Once at college we used a Zamboni to ice over a parking lot for street hockey.   Guess it's a similar idea. 

Edited February 4, 2022 by Gargamel
Typo

[TheSaint]

7 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Some sci-fi book I read had the characters riding a sled - snow sled - that laid a frozen track down before it as it travelled.

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

Interesting - I just learned one of the downsides to EV in-wheel motors:

Why don't EVs have four in-wheel motors? - EV Central

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

This is interesting: Did an exploding comet help end an ancient Native American culture? - The Washington Post

 

[StrandedonEarth]

3 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Interesting - I just learned one of the downsides to EV in-wheel motors:

Why don't EVs have four in-wheel motors? - EV Central

Yeah, I heard Michelin had a motor-in-wheel concept years ago, and my first thought was that the unsprung weight would be a headache. Maybe for the semis, where the tire/wheel/drum assembly is already pretty heavy. I think that’s the plan for the TSemi, but I may be mistaken. 

[Gargamel]

I swear I've seen 4 motor race/super cars before.  _checks notes_    Ahh yes.. Rimac makes (at least) one.   That was the one that Hammond threw off a cliff in Switzerland. 

Quote

This new model uses a 120kWh lithium battery and develops 1888bhp and 1696lb ft of torque. It has an electric motor at each wheel, allowing for four-wheel drive. It uses a pair of independent single-speed gearboxes to drive the front wheels and a pair of two-speed carbon-clutched gearboxes for the rear wheels. This allows the C_Two to make use of “its prodigious torque”, said Rimac.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/rimac-ctwo-1888bhp-hypercar-track-2021-deliveries

Edited February 5, 2022 by Gargamel

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

1 hour ago, Gargamel said:

Rimac makes (at least) one

That thing is SICK!!!

Edit - My inner Teenager WANTS one!

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

NVM the fact that I am too GD big to fit in any of those.

 

...

..well, that's not true; I sat in an Astin Martin once and it was niiiiiice.  Maybe.  Just MAYBE if I won the lottery.... I'd get me ona doze!

 

[Gargamel]

7 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

NVM the fact that I am too GD big to fit in any of those.

Did you see it's 1800 hp?   Just tap the throttle and you'll be one with the seat.   No issues. 

[magnemoe]

23 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

Boston dawgz should guard.

There is a special Hyundai concept for that, with better music.

  Hide contents

 

 

An bit more advanced than giving robot dogs small wheels as feet. I don't think I even bother with active dampening or other fancy stuff for the dogs just an wide stance in wheeled mode and switch to walking if terrain got to rough for wheels as in not roads, but I guess the dogs would be put in an truck if it was roads anyway.