Simone Biles pushes the limits of humanity with impressive gymnastic exercises, but will sophisticated machines be able to reproduce her performance and compete on the Olympic field? A look at the pros and cons of robots versus the human body
By Tal Sokolov, the website of the Davidson Institute, the educational arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science
Simon Bales (Biles) is the most prominent gymnast in the Olympic Games in the last decade. She is known above all for the particularly complicated exercises she performs, some of which are even named after her. Biles manages to push the limits of human ability to the limit, partly thanks to a successful balance of her physical data. she low and light (her height is only 1.42 meters) and also muscular and strong. The extreme ratio between her small body dimensions and the great strength she is able to mobilize for movement allows her to perform particularly complex exercises.
Bayles manages to push the limits of human ability to the limit. Simone Biles at the Olympic Games in Rio, 2016 | Shutterstock, Leonard Zhukovsky
automatic exercise
Robots are machines that are built of electronic and mechanical components, and perform actions independently. They are designed to perform specific actions that will benefit humans, ranging from robot vacuum cleaners to autonomous cars that drive by themselves without human intervention. Each robot has its own structure and design, which allows it to perform its task. There are also robots whose shape resembles the structure of the human body (Humanoids), or which were inspired by certain animals, and among them there are robots that imitate the form of movement of animals, such as walk, running או spring.
Bales' gymnastics exercises require perfect control of all their components: high and prolonged diving, rotations in the air in a variety of movement axes - for example around the body like a screw or along the body like a forward or backward somersault - and finally a stable landing on the ground. For a robot, each of these actions requires a different collection of mechanical parts and appropriate motors. Today there are robots that manage to perform separate actions necessary for an exercise, for example Jumping robots high, Robots that know how to move around in the air If you jump them and catch them before they crash, and robots that are able to land Steadily from a low jump.
One of the factors that make it difficult to combine all these capabilities in a single robot is that the many parts and motors necessary for all parts of the exercise create a very heavy and particularly complex robot. Due to its heavy weight, the robot is also very bulky and consumes more energy. That is, the whole is complex and heavier than the sum of its parts.
The human advantage
Human muscles adapted to perform such movements much better than mechanical engines. The muscles allow a wide range of movements and are able to convert energy into movement very quickly which allows us to jump and run. In addition, human muscles are very resistant to shocks, an important feature for landing stabilization and also for recovery from injuries. While a body recovers easily and quickly from minor injuries, and in many cases recovers well even from more serious injuries, a robot whose parts are not up to the task and break will need replacements and repairs.
Complex physical actions, such as a stable landing, require good coordination - fast and precise synchronization between the sensing means and the action units. Our human sense of vision and sense of direction allow human gymnasts and gymnasts to adjust their positions within fractions of a second while in motion and in a highly precise manner. On the other hand, in robots, calculation components receive information from sensors about their environment and the condition of their bodies, and accordingly have to make decisions about changing the movement of the motors. The quality of those artificial sensors is lower, and calculating real-time motion corrections in robots is still an engineering challenge.
Scientists are trying to develop mechanical engines Inspired by animals and humans, with the aim of mobilizing the efficiency of the natural world to enable a range of movements that simulates the animal world. It is likely that technological developments will be perfected, engines and chassis materials will become lighter, until eventually the technology will make it possible to perform complex movements like those of Bailes, with an efficiency that even surpasses that of humans. Who knows, maybe at this stage a special division will be added in the Olympics for our mechanical friends.
To the article on the Davidson Institute website
More of the topic in Hayadan: