On Saturday, March 23, 2002 at 8:17:00 PM UTC-6, Joe wrote:

Gerry Schneider <gerry.s@sympatico.ca> wrote in message news:3C9D41B7.543AB41B@sympatico.ca...

Joe wrote:

Alan Kilian <kilian@raceme.UUCP> wrote in message news:lMMm8.1211$K13.380155@typhoon.mn.ipsvc.net...

Joe,

You said "Each application can generate billions
in revenue and I hold the USA patent."

When I search the US Patent office's database
for "Joe" AND "Michael" in the inventor field, I
get lots and lots of hits, but I can't find any
fractal robots.

Could you please post the patent numbers?

Well Alan, if you are referring to my USA pat no. then it
is No. 6, 157, 872.

I'd share it with any decent person that wants to get
this technology off the ground.

Share what? The patent refers to a hopelessly complicated structural technique that will always produce a device 100 times bulkier and 100
times less robust than any specifically-built product. Your abstract blithely describes methods that require hundreds or thousands of
different surface sliding operations without once mentioning the effects
of dust, grit, water and other contaminants on the reliability of the operation. There are lots of other reliability-reducing operations, such
as the connector mating and un-mating inherent in such a design, that
would be apparent to any reasonable person. Imagine a hammer whose
striking face contains a couple of processors, some electric motors and actuators, communications and control cable, a power supply, etc. What a ridiculously complicated approach to a specific task.! Now scale this up
to a Moon or Martian crawler, a submarine or an airplane. The designs
for these struggle with specific problems, but have nicely solved the
basic structure, thank you very much. Your approach would still be
trying to get the thing put together in the presence of surface ice, expansion or contraction of mating surfaces due to tremendous heat or
cold, high-pressure water penetration of seals, etc. while the
specifically built machine is off doing its work. Compare a rolling
wheel using an electric motor, a gear train and a sealed bearing to a machine that loops around by coupling and un-coupling elements at the
rate of millions of operations per mile. Hmm... wonder which one's going
to break down first? Fault tolerance doesn't do much good when you run
out of spares a few million miles from home. The whole concept is ridiculous except under the most narrow applications. You'll also have noticed that the applications being done by others and that you claim
are "yours" couple elements at a much higher level. They don't build I-beams by making the "I" out of little cubes, or wheels by rolling
little cubes up in a circle.

Gerry

Gerry, the patent document is just abstraction. Seeing beyond it requires visiting web site http://www.fractal-robots.com
In abstract the patent document specifies a few designs
for cubes and the patent claims are over common elements between designs. Thus variants will use most if not all common features.

Its a misunderstanding to say cubes roll up into a circle to make a wheel
or anything else.
The simplest alternative is to tool the cubes.
A large cube can be fitted with an electric wheel for instance.
Four of these wheels can be shuffled out to the edges of a machine
to transform the machine into a drivable vehicle.
Then you can travel the mile on the martian surface
without coupling or uncoupling any elements. If you have a break down
and carry a spare wheel unit, then you can shuffle the cubes around to
change the wheel without calling for help.
If you come across a steep vertical, then
you can change shape, climb the vertical, and then convert back
into a wheeled vehicle. The design doesn't struggle with new
challenges of terrain because it is not a fixed geometry vehicle.
All cubes can carry tools inside such as antenna, batteries,
solar panels, drilling equipment etc. and deploy them
as and when needed in different configurations.
For example in drilling, you put away the wheels and change
shape to have sturdy legs whilst drilling. If you carried steel
tubes and girders then articulate those
steel tubes and girders and join them together to make a base
for the drilling machine.
As for dust and dirt or hostile environments, do what
CD-ROM do every minute of every day - use flaps that keep out dust. Alternatively, the machines can shuffle plate elements on
themselves to keep themselves safe in a dust storm.

The possibilities are endless depending on how many tools
have been fitted along with software to deploy it - which
is where all the hard work comes in. Its made easier
in that cubes can be mostly empty inside and since different
sizes of cubes are present in a fractal machine, any existing
tool will have a size of cube that could take it. So it
just becomes a customization operation to fit tool into cube
and then pull out interface wires to the connectors
so that the tools can be software controlled.

To make wheel unit for example requires a wheel, washing machine motor
a gear box and electronic control circuits.
Once built, 3 more copies can be made. Then it can
be attached together into a wheeled vehicle.
Simple as Lego, but letting
the computer do the shuffling of the bricks.

-Joe-
http://www.fractal-robots.com

Oh yes, the good old days.

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