I
s a servomotor a superhero? Could it turn you into one?
A University of Illinois Ph.D. candidate’s research has opened up the possibility.
Victor Mateevitsi made a suit that tells the user, via microphones and servomotors, where there is an object coming towards them—just like Spiderman’s spidey sense.
The sensors determine where an object is, how quickly it’s coming towards you, from what direction, and how large it is. When you’re walking down a street, the suit would tell you where objects like light poles and fire hydrants were as well as people who were walking by you on the sidewalk, even if you couldn’t see them yourself.
It’s an application of technology that might change the lives of people with limited or no vision. Mateevitsi has also suggested other applications like awareness suits for bicyclists. If you want to find out the specifics about the project, you can read the research paper.
On top of the social applications of this idea and technology, there’s also the potential for some really big government defense contracts for this Ph.D. student researcher. Servomotors are quite versatile and we’re happy to see other people as obsessed with them as we are. Of course, if your spidey suit (or just your Rexroth Indramat equipment) ever needs a repair, we can help!