Many years ago, I was browsing Powell's Books in the robotics section. I saw a book with the Stiqito robot. Where were all the geegaws? No servos, chips, pulleys, pistons, springs... looks like a stick with wires.
I thought that this had to be some kind of trick. A fake robot. I knew what a robot looked like. From Robot Wars to Battletech, robots have chunky bits all over them. Why not on the Stiqito? The answer and the holy grail... Nitinol.
Nitiniol is nickel-titantium alloy wire. At certain temperatures, it will deform. At another temperature, it will resume it's original dimensions. Repeatedly and forcefully. This is the "myomer" muscle of the mighty Battletech robots!
I say with shame that I didn't buy the book (Sorry, Powell's) and didn't think about it except to amuse myself for several years. Then my cousin had a motorcycle accident and became an amputee. I won't pretend to know what she went through, but it was clear that being an amputee is difficult and traumatic.
What if there had been a prosthetic utilizing Nitinol wires? Low weight, low profile, strong... it seems that a prosthetic actuated by Nitinol wires could be made to approximate a lost limb with some higher degree of success than current examples (and DARPA research projects).
I'd love to hear if anyone knows if something like this is being pursued.
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