Because when you lift something, you’re not just using your arm, you’re using your whole body. Having an arm that could carry heavy weights would put large amounts of stress on the rest of your body as well, which would not be able to handle it. More importantly, the transition between prosthetic and flesh would be exposed to high stresses and current prosthetics technology is not able to handle those.
You’re touching on where “dad stength” and, uh, R-word strength comes from. Our brains limit us from tearing ourselves to pieces.
Our old guy brains still think we’re 25 and act accordingly, and we fuck ourselves up. People with Down’s don’t have the limiter, so they appear to be super strong.
I guess the only solution is to become a full borg. That way, every titanium bone would be rated to handle superhuman stress and you could cary much more.
As someone who recently started needing wheels, much of the world isn’t really built for that. Lots of uneven flooring in buildings, stairs, thresholds, spaces too narrow to traverse, etc. I get stuck often lol
Anyone who has observed a robot vacuum struggle with minor bumps knows that even homes aren’t ideal for wheels. Some warehouse are ok though, but they were specifically designed with wheels in mind.
I can totally get behind swappable parts. Depending on what you’re doing, you could use different arms and legs specifically designed for the task at hand.
You could have swappable parts that, say your hand attaches to (with, for example, a flexible grip by your hand). That way you could swap an enormous array of parts, using your hand as a universal adaptor.
Some of these parts could even by powered by your body so they don’t need an external power source. Like you could design a machine which, when attached to you by your hand, and powered by the rotation of your arm, could twist screws into the wall!
LOL. You can go places with convincing arguments like that.
But seriously though, versatility is useful, but only up to a certain point. In niche cases, special tools make more sense due to the superior performance they offer. For example, running with a traditional leg prosthetic isn’t as efficient as running with a special running prosthetic. You know, those carbon fiber arcs that looks nothing like a leg (AKA “running blades”).
Bicycles are awesome. If you want one optimized for efficiency, get the simplest one. Going uphill will be annoying, but at least it’s always at peak efficiency.
Because when you lift something, you’re not just using your arm, you’re using your whole body. Having an arm that could carry heavy weights would put large amounts of stress on the rest of your body as well, which would not be able to handle it. More importantly, the transition between prosthetic and flesh would be exposed to high stresses and current prosthetics technology is not able to handle those.
You’re touching on where “dad stength” and, uh, R-word strength comes from. Our brains limit us from tearing ourselves to pieces.
Our old guy brains still think we’re 25 and act accordingly, and we fuck ourselves up. People with Down’s don’t have the limiter, so they appear to be super strong.
That’s what I was thinking. You might have an arm that can carry 400lbs but man, that would screw up your shoulder and back.
I guess the only solution is to become a full borg. That way, every titanium bone would be rated to handle superhuman stress and you could cary much more.
While we’re swapping out limbs, wheels would be a lot more efficient at moving loads around too.
As someone who recently started needing wheels, much of the world isn’t really built for that. Lots of uneven flooring in buildings, stairs, thresholds, spaces too narrow to traverse, etc. I get stuck often lol
Anyone who has observed a robot vacuum struggle with minor bumps knows that even homes aren’t ideal for wheels. Some warehouse are ok though, but they were specifically designed with wheels in mind.
Then mecha it is!
Jetpack. Much more practical.
I can totally get behind swappable parts. Depending on what you’re doing, you could use different arms and legs specifically designed for the task at hand.
See also: Adam Smasher
You could have swappable parts that, say your hand attaches to (with, for example, a flexible grip by your hand). That way you could swap an enormous array of parts, using your hand as a universal adaptor.
Some of these parts could even by powered by your body so they don’t need an external power source. Like you could design a machine which, when attached to you by your hand, and powered by the rotation of your arm, could twist screws into the wall!
LOL. You can go places with convincing arguments like that.
But seriously though, versatility is useful, but only up to a certain point. In niche cases, special tools make more sense due to the superior performance they offer. For example, running with a traditional leg prosthetic isn’t as efficient as running with a special running prosthetic. You know, those carbon fiber arcs that looks nothing like a leg (AKA “running blades”).
But neither is as efficient as a bicycle?
Bicycles are awesome. If you want one optimized for efficiency, get the simplest one. Going uphill will be annoying, but at least it’s always at peak efficiency.