• SparroHawc@lemmy.zip
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    23 hours ago

    It’s not meant for prosthetics or manufacturing. It’s a robot that can get into tight spaces without depending on wheels, tracks, or legs, which are likely to get hung up on corners and debris. It could be used to, for example, crawl into rubble, or explore irregular caves. If it’s designed right it could be made pretty cheaply, even. Biggest downside is that it can’t climb, but that problem exists with most other robot designs as well.

    • TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today
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      22 hours ago

      It essentially has the same issue. How many scenarios can we think of that need something that can crawl into rubble or explore irregular caves, but without the ability to climb? It’s what happens when a design’s aesthetic is developed before its function.

      When aesthetics is the selling point of an engineering project then the aesthetics is its purpose. In this case it’s to advertise a university’s research department.