thats not really true at all. these are features of physics not biology, so robotics have the same tradeoff. in robotics its even worse though because we currently have no actuators that are capable of matching biological muscle in terms of combined speed, force, and precision, let alone in such a small package. if you make a robotic limb capable of the force of a human hand it will be incredibly stiff and slow, or require actuators that are too large and heavy to be feasibly carried by a person, to say nothing of the energy storage. in practice robotics capable of functioning as prosthetics are either sufficiently strong but totally lacking in any dexterity, or have dexterity but are very weak and/or slow compared to biological hands.
the actuator problem is pretty much the single biggest barrier to creating prosthetics that rival the functionality of human hands. people have been working on it for decades, and while there have been some interesting results, nothing has come close to being even a poor replacement for biological muscle. when we finally figure it out, which i think is inevitable if we continue to survive as a species, the robotics we make with them will operate under the same physical constraints as biological bodies.
Fair enough. You seem to be more knowledgeable about this than me. I get that its an inherent physics thing though I just meant that, theoretically at least, you could simply brute force grip strength in a way that you can’t brute force dexterity - at which point it becomes sensible to optimize for dexterity. I guess we’re not as close to that point as I assumed though.
thats not really true at all. these are features of physics not biology, so robotics have the same tradeoff. in robotics its even worse though because we currently have no actuators that are capable of matching biological muscle in terms of combined speed, force, and precision, let alone in such a small package. if you make a robotic limb capable of the force of a human hand it will be incredibly stiff and slow, or require actuators that are too large and heavy to be feasibly carried by a person, to say nothing of the energy storage. in practice robotics capable of functioning as prosthetics are either sufficiently strong but totally lacking in any dexterity, or have dexterity but are very weak and/or slow compared to biological hands.
the actuator problem is pretty much the single biggest barrier to creating prosthetics that rival the functionality of human hands. people have been working on it for decades, and while there have been some interesting results, nothing has come close to being even a poor replacement for biological muscle. when we finally figure it out, which i think is inevitable if we continue to survive as a species, the robotics we make with them will operate under the same physical constraints as biological bodies.
Fair enough. You seem to be more knowledgeable about this than me. I get that its an inherent physics thing though I just meant that, theoretically at least, you could simply brute force grip strength in a way that you can’t brute force dexterity - at which point it becomes sensible to optimize for dexterity. I guess we’re not as close to that point as I assumed though.