Dan Granett, an engineer from Berkeley, California, is working on a project to create world’s first big scale robot that will be able to literally juggle cars in the air, exactly like clowns do with balls at the circus. Already named BugJuggler, the engineer put the project of building its first hydraulic hand on Kickstarter and is hoping he’ll get enough money to build the second arm as well.
The ground-breaking challenge is to design a machine able to use its hands to throw cars up in the air and catch them before they hit the ground. According to their project, the interface between the BugJuggler prototype and the human operator will consist of a sensor sleeve and glove. In addition to capturing the movements of the operator, the interface will provide haptic feedback. When the robot catches heavy weight a proportional force will be felt by the operator.
The Transformers-look alike machine will be constructed using structural steel components and off the shelf hydraulic cylinders. High speed servo controlled valves will be used to control the motion of the robot. The pledge is for the team to build the first arm, the second one will follow in case they manage to raise enough money, and eventually the robot will also be built.
It might take a while until real scale Autobots will actually change the face of worldwide entertainment, but we’ll have to be honest with you, we can’t wait for that to happen.
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