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We knew this day would come. For years now, scientists have been trying to make Westworld a reality with their advances in android robots.
From lab-grown muscle tissue to robots with bones, ligaments and tendons, android robots have rapidly been getting more and more lifelike.
Now, a company named Clone Robotics has created something they are calling the Protoclone – a “faceless, anatomically accurate, synthetic human with over 200 degrees of freedom, over 1,000 Myofibers, and over 200 sensors.” Sound terrifying? Just wait until you see video of it twitching and spasming its way into action.
Clone Robotics, in addition to calling it a “synthetic human,” says it is the world’s first “musculoskeletal android.” They also claim that some day their Protoclone will be almost indistinguishable from real humans. (So we won’t know if and when they actually take over the world, despite what one android robot has already promised.)
“Do it once. Clone will do it forever,” the company claims on its website.
“The Clone’s muscular system animates the skeleton thanks to Clone’s revolutionary artificial muscle technology Myofiber,” the company goes explains, adding, “Today, Myofiber is the only artificial muscle in the world capable of achieving such a combination of weight, power density, speed, force-to-weight, and energy efficiency.”
Perhaps someday they can replace humans on the football field to fully eliminate all of those pesky injuries. (You know we would all watch that.)
“The Clone’s skeletal system contains all 206 bones of the human body with a small number of bone fusions,” the company continues. “The joints are fully articulated with artificial ligaments and connective tissues.”
The robot’s nervous system is “designed for instantaneous neural control of the valves, and thereby the muscles, with only proprioceptive and visual feedback” using “4 depth cameras in the skull for vision, 70 inertial sensors that provide joint-level proprioception (angles and velocities) and 320 pressure sensors for muscle-level force feedback.”
It even has a heart. Sort of.
The android’s vascular system is “the most sophisticated hydraulic powering system ever designed, with a 500 watt electric pump as compact as the human heart able to pump liquid at a 40 SLPM volumetric flow rate and 100 psi rating, allowing it to supply hydraulic pressure to the entire muscular system.”
But can it perform surgery or knock out a killer DJ set?