This time I want to do a post more along the lines of what I intend this site to be – that is looking at problems, looking at past solutions and then figuring out if current are adequate or suggest improvements to help break out of “the loop” perse.
So to start, let’s talk about tracked vehicles and things of this nature.
Tractors have been around for a long time. The first tractors were in fact invented as a solution for a horse shortage at the beginning of World War I where all the horses were being sent off to Europe for calvary uses.
“Between 1914 and 1918, the US sent almost one million horses overseas, and another 182,000 were taken overseas with American troops. This deployment seriously depleted the country’s equine population. Only 200 returned to the US, and 60,000 were killed outright.”
Cite: https://web.archive.org/web/20100926051214/http://imh.org/legacy-of-the-horse/the-horse-in-world-war-i-1914-1918/ – International Museum of the Horse. Archived from the original on 2010-09-26. Retrieved 2010-09-15. via Wikipedia
Certainly, there were other tractors invented before WW1. But like many inventions, they often arrive before their time of need. Once horses became scarce, a need arose and then industry is there to fill a need.
The Holt 75 model gasoline-powered Caterpillar tractor used early in World War I as an artillery tractor. Later models were produced without the front “tiller wheel”, c. 1914.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo%27s_fighting_vehicleHere we can see that Holt 75 being used by the French pulling an artillery cannon.
Eventually, during the first world war, there were more recognizable versions of what we know as a tank.
Well, we have the tank still.
We also have things like converted vehicles using tracks like:
The Mars Institute “HMP Okarian” Humvee with Mattracks during the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition (2009-2011).
“Ok, great” you say.
“Where are you going with this then?” you ask.
Smart wheels.
And I know of Boston Dynamics use of peg legs to create “dog” like robots that can handle stairs and uneven terrain:
However, in Snow Crash, they described spoked wheels:
Smartwheels use sonar, laser range finding and millimeter wave radar to identify mufflers and other debris. Each one consists of a hub with many tiny spokes. Each spoke telescopes into five sections.
On the end is a squat foot, rubber tread on the bottom, swiveling on a ball joint. As the wheel rolls, the feet plant themselves one at a time, almost glomming into one continuous tire. If you surf over a bump, the spokes contract to roll over it.
If you surf over a pothole, the rubber prongs probe its asphalt depths. Either way, the shock is thereby absorbed, no thuds, smacks, vibrations, or clunks will make their way into the plank or the Converse hightops with which you tread it.
The ad was right – you cannot be a professional road surfer without smartwheels.
In writing this article, I’ve just learned about another wheel from history:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedrail_wheel
Now I have to give mucho credit to Technovelgy for bringing me up to speed:
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=117 as he’s been keeping up with the changes in technology in this realm… such as:
So yeah, there has been work efforts made in this field. Obviously there could be more done, but it shows that ideas from the past are still inspiration to future ideas.