Well, I went out a few hours ago and sat on a massage chair.

Thread replies: 3
Thread images: 1

Anonymous
2015-12-28 00:24:35 Post No. 921066
[Report] Image search: [Google]

File: F7JFH9OF5Y3YRHB.MEDIUM.jpg (29 KB, 620x465) Image search: [Google]

Anonymous 2015-12-28 00:24:35 Post No. 921066 [Report]

Well, I went out a few hours ago and sat on a massage chair. The way the chair put pressure on my calves made me wonder if you could make artificial "muscles" which worked with air. Once I got home I googled "pneumatic muscles".

I've been reading about them a bit but I'm not an engineer, so, /diy/, tell me about em. What are they commonly used for? I also read the proper term is PAM in wikipedia, is that also used as the common name? And finally, would it be possible to make a prosthesis which felt closer to an "actual" leg with them?

>>

Anonymous 2015-12-28 01:10:03 Post No.921093
[Report]

Anonymous 2015-12-28 01:10:03 Post No.921093 [Report]

If I remember correctly, those are really hard to control accurately, which is necesary for any type of artificial limb. Plus, you need a compressor to move them, making a PAM prosthetic very unwieldy.

>>

Anonymous 2015-12-28 01:10:05 Post No.921094
[Report]

Anonymous 2015-12-28 01:10:05 Post No.921094 [Report]

>>921066
human muscles work in pairs, your brain has a feedback loop that controls proportionally the extension of each muscle to move and hold in the right position.

if you fill an air muscle with air it would go from one extreme to the other.
you would need to control dynamically the pressure in the 'muscle' to set the position and then adjust it continuously as you change the outside loads and forces.

but yeah, it would work kind of