ABENICS Active Ball Joint Mechanism with three DoF based on spherical gear meshings

0:00 introduction
0:50 Graphical explanation of the mechanism
2:45 Components of the manufactured prototype
3:40 Motions os prototypes
4:20 Motions of prototypes with output link
5:05 Behavior of the Monopole Gear in the vicinity of the pole
5:25 Motions with extended output link and weight
[video provided by IEEE - credits: Kazuki Abe / Kenjiro Tadakuma / Riichiro Tadakuma]
read more here: ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/...
( published under a Creative Commons License : creativecommons.org/licenses/... )

[@4.0.4]

When the 3D was coming together, some primal part of my monkey brain was extremely satisfied.

[@davidmende3409]

the primal part of the monkey brain had to watch it 4 times in 0,25% speed before it understood what happend there

[@Ghryst]

my primal lizard brain is interpreting the ball as a pimply boob

[@mrkeogh]

Remember that Royksopp music video?

[@Kabodanki]

@@Ghryst let me r/wooosh myself. Lizard don't have boobs, only mamal have them...

[@UCmDBecUtbSafffpMEN3iscA]

@@Kabodanki Now that reminds me of lizards in R34

[@conchang7112]

>What would be some practical everyday uses for this? The maneuverability of Gundam must improve.

[@fabricelejay5779]

A leg for a robot ?? These would be found particular application in hip joint robots.

[@GiuseppeGullo]

Definitely a good equivalent of a 3DoF shoulder in one single joint... To be adjusted to each scenario, but it looks promising

[@alexlo7708]

@@GiuseppeGullo Not likely. It cannot do some characteristic 3 DOF real joint really did such flexible radius arm. But this polar joint has fixed radius arm.

[@filonin2]

Gun pods

[@zekiah2]

Ankle joint for mech

[@iverstubdal]

That was unexpectedly satisfying to watch.

[@PozieNayan]

The durian gear must be good for back scratcher.

[@clementyap1009]

It is far more advanced than anything seen on earth!

[@babybirdhome]

@@clementyap1009 This is literally seen on earth. You just saw it there. What you meant to say is that there are people in the world who are far more clever than most of us are.

[@h00db01i]

@@babybirdhome stop the bootlicking, you're doing these humble innovators a gigantic disservice. buy no car instead and help the environment

[@gormauslander]

lol, "Durian gear" is a pretty accurate description

[@UCmDBecUtbSafffpMEN3iscA]

It's also good for CBT

[@crackedemerald4930]

Scientists finally found a use for the dog ball other than massages and dogs.

[@____-gy5mq]

dog

[@dalethomasdewitt]

'sounds' like machine tool tech to me.

[@fyka2902]

The potential applications are vast; from massages to dogs.

[@russellzauner]

this will be wonderful for removing lint from my clothes dryer

[@BoyKhongklai]

So I'm not the only one who's using dog toys for massages 😂

[@tinymints3134]

what's the most amazing thing about this is that it's eventually going to get even simpler. People think complex equals smart but it's the opposite. Beautiful design!

[@ameraldas3641]

I would say that the one thing that I could see being made simpler is, to make the sphereacle gear on a CNC 5 axis mill, or to make it in such a way that you have 3 sets of gears cast them and a few thousands too big and have them run together to give them a perfect fit as well as work hardening them at the same time. ( i may be wrong about this ) But the design is already very simple, once proven economically viable for some there will be alot of patent avoiding, or patent disregarding chinese knockoffs that are more complex.

[@sanches2]

Some of the motion pairs between the links still have sliding/friction - not evolvent rolling. normal gear transmissions are invented to preven the sliding. So it isn't that great, but the complexity is mind boggling and the idea looks really cool.

[@gopalahebert7511]

My thought as well, that lubrication and keeping the system clean will be tedious. Also I suspect that there are "dead spots" with less strength, torque or otherwise, near poles or along the equator.

[@fridje]

Not great how it reacts to singularities in the control inputs either, having to spin the drive gear 180 like that that quickly (and for no actual effect on the output) is terrible for the motor drivers.

[@Wtfinc]

@@fridje the motor drivers? the FETs? I suppose but you should spec your parts and designs accordingly. It's no dewalt drill which I'm still pissed about if you wanna talk bad motor drivers. I bet if the drive gear went directly above the pole it wouldn't spin given some pre determined dead zone for the poles(jamming may become more evident). I cant help but think the spinning could really be mitigated or completely cut out.

[@fridje]

@@Wtfinc I agree, the control software is probably just quite naive since its a prototype

[@Wtfinc]

@@fridje Yeah I was wondering how frustrating it could get writing code for that thing then writing enhancements hoping they don't jam up the works. I wonder who and why tho? now a days a kid with a cnc bed can make these things.

[@blarghchan]

Why do I feel like a description of the driving software would sound like "The ball joint knows where it is, because it knows where it isn't." For those who don't know: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mIvIZn1uiLt2j7M

[@dimitar4y]

HA

[@TheNefastor]

My people :-D

[@Jesus-is-my-LORD-and-SAVIOR]

Why?

[@dimitar4y]

@@Jesus-is-my-LORD-and-SAVIOR it's a meme you dip, about convoluted software with descriptions that make even less sense.

[@HangTimeDeluxe]

Actually, the motion is tracked through the encoders, as noted in the video. The position is known based on a defined "home" position.

[@dyrgewolf]

This is exactly what I have been looking for. Wish 3D models of the parts was available.

[@thaiduy3745]

I think based on the concept a simple model can be designed

[@dyrgewolf]

@@Asdayasman The main sphere is easy, the monopole gears would be harder to model, and then the whole drive mechanism is only briefly shown. There is enough detail to replicate it, but obviously it was modeled at some point, so it would have been nice if they released the models along with the paper.

[@williamchamberlain2263]

Can you use photogrammetry off of frames of this video? Would be in breach of copyright unless they've it it under an open licence though.

[@memesfromdeepspace1075]

Give 3 monts and we Will get

[@paulg3336]

The gears are relatively easy. Just model thin spur gears in CAD and rotate them in various axes. The hard part is the control software

[@Number_055]

This is incredibly cool. Definitely the best purely visual explanation of a design I've seen too. Great work!

[@user-zh4vo1kw1z]

The moment you find out you dig something you never even knew about... Never thought something technical without any sound could be so captivating

[@Trump-a-Tron]

This will revolutionize the way we point flashlights in the future!

[@Jesus-is-my-LORD-and-SAVIOR]

How?

[@ethanhansford9135]

The movement of this joint is unbelievable, I can definitely see practical future use for this!

[@DrakeOola]

Like what exactly? 🧐

[@sanches2]

And it is?

[@juancarlosabad3298]

@@DrakeOola Current/classical robotic arms have only 1 DoF per join ....this one has 3 DoF, like our own human upper arm join ....i can imagine using it in prosthetics i.e. robotic arms....

[@babybirdhome]

@@juancarlosabad3298 I may be wrong but from watching the video, it seems like there are certain movements that this joint can’t replicate, although I’m not sure those are movements that a shoulder joint can perform either, so that may not be an issue.

[@meateaw]

@@babybirdhome Our shoulder joint can't rotate indefinitely. So, there is definitely motions our join't can't replicate that this machine can. And I suspect the tradeoff is our joint is (relatively speaking) capable of much higher torque than this (with less play in the motion). It's all a tradeoff. The more options we have to make joints like this the better an engineers life will be. This joint might not be great for a shoulder for a heavy load-bearing joint, but might work in other scenarios. We need more options so we can pick the best ones for the situation we need them.

[@waran9560]

Now people can use their prosthetic Arm as a drill.

[@weltmeister]

hello sandwich dispenser

[@SovereignKnight74]

This is actually one of the most impressive things I've seen on KZbin to date! What an amazing 360* gear ball joint! Ingenious!

[@marcoottina654]

so mind blowing! It seems fragile, erosion-prone, with tons of torques etc, but absolutely stunning!

[@pirobot668beta]

Only four motors to get that kind of motion. You know how many muscles the human shoulder needs for the same job? This is a major development.

[@peterk.4266]

I would be careful with this statement.

[@OrangeC7]

@@peterk.4266 Yeah, fewer isn't necessarily better. It all depends on the situation

[@xaytana]

@@OrangeC7 While potentially true, the original statement is also a classic example of false equivalence. Our musculoskeletal system is extremely complex, so much so that we don't have an actuator that fully replicates muscles in a 1:1 comparison. Whereas this uses fairly simple mechanics to actuate a ball joint. It's not an apples to apples comparison, it's damn near the furthest thing from an apples to apples comparison, the only comparable part is that a ball joint is actuated in literally any way, thus false equivalence.

[@majapaja_]

Four motors, 3 DOF Something's wrong i can feel it

[@YodaWhat]

Amazing spherical ball-joint gear! That could revolutionize robotics if they make it stronger.

[@vanderumd11]

Diamonds and titanium are available lol

[@xcruell]

Wow this looks so well made! The machined parts look so good and the motion itself, flawless! I didnt expect this!! :D

[@thevinn]

This is amazing but it doesn't look like an arm connected to the ball joint could lift very much, because there is enormous leverage on the joint.

[@hobanm45]

your right, but we need to learn how to make it 1st then we can make it stronger

[@thevinn]

@@hobanm45 true

[@DirtyRobot]

Your feet are a small part of your leg and yet the ankle offers great articulation.

[@battleoid2411]

@@DirtyRobot your ankle isn't driven by two sets of gears, its pulled in different directions by muscles, closer to a hydraulic system than a mechanical gear.

[@borthwey]

@@DirtyRobot As Battleoid said, this is very different from animal analogues because there are no tendons/muscles. It's like a moving skeleton, actuated from the joints. The leverage is really enormous.

[@Jandodev]

For some reason the movement this has doesn’t seen real! engineering is awesome!

[@paulg3336]

It's real - like a shoulder joint

[@Jandodev]

@@paulg3336 welp sign me up if I ever loose a shoulder Im coming here first!

[@FlashDrive356]

Here's the Timetable for those who want it: 0:50 Graphical explanation of the mechanism 2:45 Components of the manufactured prototype 3:40 Motions os prototypes 4:20 Motions of prototypes with output link 5:05 Behavior of the Monopole Gear in the vicinity of the pole 5:25 Motions with extended output link and weight

[@MechDesignTV]

thank you!

[@MechDesignTV]

just did that, thank you! and thanks to @TheFlashDrive35 for making the index list

[@FlashDrive356]

@@MechDesignTV np, glad to help

[@assembly_language3948]

I dont know man, I had enough trouble cleaning the ball in my mouse, this looks like a nightmare...

[@dimitar4y]

you don't have to keep it exposed. Put a sock on it like gear shift sticks have one.

[@terranscope]

ball in your mouse? bruh.. buy a mouse...

[@dimitar4y]

@sprock there's many autists on the planet, who are desperate to get every little bit of attention by vommiting memes where they are irrelevant. This is one of them. "BrurURUHuHUhHUHUH" and he jizzed over his keyboard. Probably.

[@dallatorretdu]

the most impressive part is the worm drive that moves the gear

[@Inertia888]

That's the part that I don't completely understand how it works. Going to have to look deeper, I guess.

[@MegaIkkuh]

@@Inertia888 just play it at 25% speed and look closely how everything interacts. that's what i did, 100% clear now

[@xaytana]

@@Inertia888 Worm gears are fairly simple to understand, think of them as a screw rather than the typical gear. A rotation of a screw will progress the teeth linearly by a certain distance. In actual screws, you can see this being done by the screw progressing into a material. But in this instance, you need to reverse which part is moving, here the screw remains stationary in space while the complimentary piece moves; and that complimentary piece is a gear that rotates on an offset, perpendicular axis. You can also think of it as a rack in pinion, where a rack would move linearly to rotate the pinion. Except this doesn't have the space for a linear rack, so you take the 2D profile of a rack and wrap it around an axes where one revolution aligns with the next tooth on the rack, thus creating a screw that can be rotated to rotate the pinion through rotation of the screw. Of course this is an extremely simplified explanation of worm gears, some worms do have much more complex designs than this. There's countless videos on explanations and animations on the internet if you still don't understand them.

[@ScarletFlames1]

@@xaytana I think your explanation is actually more confusing than the video... I understood it when it was on video but trying to understand your explanation completely ruined that xD.

[@actually5004]

@@ScarletFlames1 Yes, that's the layman explanation. It doesn't get any simpler than that, really.

[@cr6925]

That's seriously clever and weird as hell! 😊

[@Avalance0317]

This can help with people gone through amputation. Great work!

[@user-mk8dv7oo1d]

Tadakuma brothers are geniuses.

[@paulkocyla1343]

WOW! Thing of beauty! Congratulations to the engineers, Chapeau!

[@wimderix]

Great, small robotics, artificial shoulder joint etc. Fantastic idea and nicely made....congrats.

[@Mysda_]

If you put a soft ball at the end of the output link, and use 2 or 3 of them close together you could use it as a claw that can rotate the object without rotating the claw itself and without loosing contact. This is excellent for fruit collection robots. Of course it depends on the torque it can produce but this thing seams pretty sturdy for the freedom it gives

[@TheJiminiflix]

an amazing work in progress

[@TyMoore95503]

A beautiful mechanism. Elegant design. Perfect application of two rotation axis symmetry and 3d printing...I see applications in multi axis machine tools, robotics, and medicine for starters.

[@gregmeyer9408]

The prospects are mind-blowing

[@rafaelsodre_eachday]

I'm happy that there are people in the world who can understand and design this. I had to stop watching mid-video because I was getting beyond confused and starting to ache at a fundamental level.

[@hiddendragon415]

This is mesmerizing to watch

[@JayRussellDuramax]

If you can make this strong enough to withstand the forces, this WILL revolutionize machining! Imagine all of the angles of approach on a part you can have if the part is mounted in place of the output link!! Incredible!

[@CJ-tv9hd]

I love incorporating differentials but besides the incredible idea the animation is worth a few thousand. Very noice presentation.

[@izerath001]

Makes me think of a shoulder or knee joint. Amazing project, this one.

[@GunGryphon]

This is literally amazing.

[@llorttaf]

Seems simple enough. Might knock one up in the garage later.

[@blizzy78]

Let us know how it goes.

[@katemoon7476]

Beautiful work. I see uses in warehouses and automating restaurants.

[@Sp1der44]

That is Crazy Brilliant!

[@octogames6823]

Great for robotics, replacement shoulder, 5 axis machines, CMM's, this has a lot of useful applications.

[@TeraShiryu]

This is beautiful

[@Sl4yerkid]

incredible mechanics

[@ANO-.-NYM]

Holy crap. Looking at this and thinking how intelligent the people must be who designed this- makes me realise I'm fucking stupid.

[@Geroskop]

You'r not stupid, they are not geniuses... had this idea for my J ENG graduation project, like 7 years ago, and my currator said - "put it aside, if you want ill help you to patent it, now focus on finding less complicated project". I found out that 90% of technicaly educated will give you 10^4 reasons why something will not work and only remaining 10% will try to work out with you those couple of ways the damn thing will work. If your idea generator find the 10%ters but be prepared to be the laugthing stock untill you make prototype and some money)))) monetary success shuts up ppl very fast)))

[@GaryMcKinnonUFO]

No such thing as stupid ANO NYM, apart from some politicians ;+}

[@noelsnave9395]

That happens to me all the time.

[@JaakJacobus]

No, the real stupid people are those who are to stupid to know that they don't know that they don't know anything. D'you know what I'm saying? 😄 It's Dunning-Kruger all the way. You can only get better at things by accepting that no matter how much you know, somewhere somebody will know something you don't. Learning is not an ending thing, it's a constant work in progress. Like counting from 1 to infinity, you keep making progress but still you're not near infinity.

[@quirkyMakes]

90% of the population. its no wonder why religion is still a thing.

[@Psilocervine]

Very cool stuff. I can see a lot of pain points in mechanical joint range of motion that this would solve

[@tahustvedt]

Super cool concept. I want to make one now.

[@peterdilworth2316]

This is really interesting, but I am not sure what problem it is meant to solve, it is very complicated if all you want to do is make an actuated ball joint

[@Unmannedair]

This isn't just an actuated ball joint, it is a true 3dof actuated ball joint. Linkages limit your range of motion and require rotational limits. With the exception of the socket limitations, this has none of that.

[@pstrap1311]

@@Unmannedair can you speculate about what a joint like this might be useful for? Robotics, maybe?

[@Geroskop]

@@pstrap1311 car wheels, true Omnidirectional steering, Vector thrusting of RCS (manuvering jets for spacecraft), locomotion for small bots etc...

[@ZaHandle]

Some fancy gimbal for rockets engines

[@Unmannedair]

@@pstrap1311 everything mentioned above for sure. However maybe a non-traditional use would be digging through soft soils. Having sharp points like that and being able to rotate them in any direction would aid in cutting through the soil and then removing the soil. If rocks were encountered it would help steer the vehicle around the rocks. There's really any number of applications. My favorite application for this though would be Omni directional steering. There's this thing called a magnetic gear, if This were re-engineered to use that then this is the perfect omnidirectional wheel.

[@raulantoniosanchezleon9570]

It is amazing!

[@cinemacynic980]

Adding the capability for attaching a cylinder (barrel) just made this a Defense Fund wet dream.

[@debasismandal1924]

That's some next level engineering!

[@-Primer-]

What a nightmare of engineering. It's awesome.

[@dimitar4y]

that's EXACTLY what I said too LOL

[@musicworld5319]

I had that idea 1 year ago and to see it is wonderful.

[@zactron1997]

I bet this could be extremely useful for CNC-style machining provided the gears are mechanical strong enough.

[@DonnyDarko13]

So you think this movements are Precise enough ?

[@zactron1997]

@@DonnyDarko13 it appears to be quite precise, and being gear based, precision is a function of machining tolerance. I'm certainly no expert here, but it certainly looks applicable

[@DonnyDarko13]

@@zactron1997 i agree with you i am not an expert too but the Shape of these tooth on the Ball is a wedge when you compare it to an trapezoidal- thread there isat everytime a little bit of clearance and when its only a few tenth of an millimeter.

[@graealex]

There are some pretty big leverages involved, so neither precision nor rigidity would be suitable for machining.

[@MrDiveDave]

I love being alive right now and watching technology grow at a ridiculously fast rate. The stuff we are coming up with as quickly as we are is astonishing, and its only getting faster because of it.

[@brotheralaric7177]

Very impressive.

[@dford344]

Impressive design.

[@eliaspfeffer]

Beautiful!!!

[@Max_Marz]

My first choice would have been peek too :P The machining on the "pinions" is stellar.

[@sriramsridhara1763]

Hats off the the people who designed this

[@rodrigoleon-alvarez587]

Was this published by Anaheim Electronics?? If so, I'll apply immediately to its Mobile Suit Development & Engineering depart!

[@williamchamberlain2263]

Remember to restrict the twist axis to what the human body can accommodate :)

[@____-gy5mq]

@@williamchamberlain2263 minovsky

[@SMGJohn]

The first step towards the first mobile suite. Now we just need a miniature fusion reactor to power it all.

[@remcovanvliet3018]

@SMGJohn be patient. In about 30 years, I'm told.

[@roberthoople]

Fascinating.

[@Billy-rn3il]

This is amazing

[@vihreelinja4743]

Damn simple and brilliant

[@ericfermin8347]

The longitudinal bifurcation is tremendously helpful in this application.

[@thinktwice5035]

Looks to me like an interesting invention for robotics and omnidirectional assembly line transportation. Great job, congratulations!

[@paulgeorge5173]

this is incredible!!!

[@Jacopo.]

Thank you engeener for sharing

[@defcon1gaming]

Man full circle. Saw this on Reddit, then LinkedIn, now KZbin.

[@d4j4r58]

Interesting to see what can be made out of these ABENICS

[@KathrynLiz1]

Fascinating

[@paulpalta8301]

Wow! Mind blown, jaw dropped. Hope you have patent. Groundbreaking

[@sanjuansteve]

Beautiful. :D

[@Earzone63]

Hats off to the animator - so fluid! I'm working out machine designs and would love to communicate them like that?

[@thisnicklldo]

Very clever. Expect to see Akiyuki using it for the next Lego ball contraption.

[@mslmsldk]

The complexity blows my mind.

[@odinata]

Mind. Blown.

[@kingtiger435]

That simulation part felt like a thing from portal, really cool stuff

[@renanmonteirobarbosa8129]

it blew my mind

[@9guile]

You watch the video and that is what you came up with. Your mother must be proud.

[@Dmirty1291]

Инженерия на грани с искусством!

[@scottmiller2591]

I had something completely different in mind when I saw the title - basically 2 spherical burrs with their grooves meshing. This would allow one gear to be tilted off axis and, providing the contact is maintained at the same "latitude" on both burrs (requiring a slightly complicated hinge mechanism),, the rotational speed would be unchanged as they tilted. Chaining these together would allow torque to be transmitted from one end of a flexible chain to the other without the friction loss or binding due to buckling of a cable in sheathe. But yours is nice too.

[@Mukeshmiktecrep]

More complex a machine is the faster it breaks down in our environment

[@CelesteOnYoutube]

beautiful

[@maheshdahal6226]

thank you very much sir for this incredible video

[@MechDesignTV]

Credit goes to the researchers for producing it!

[@morbidbushido]

this will be great for robotics

[@atharvapote755]

awesome 👌

[@Michelino_M5]

You know an explanation is good when there are literally 0 words spoken

[@firstnamelastname3367]

The moment you know they are really trying to make Gundam

[@claudesmoot1880]

How complicated can we make this thing. Nailed it!

[@JOAOPENICHE]

Amazing

[@saagar2211]

Superb

[@toamaori]

Yay... looking forward to improved future versions

[@lusterlessnova3199]

Still waiting for cars with ball wheels, but happy to see progress is made one way or another.

[@terryeleeemail]

Brilliant

[@prdoyle]

Do you have trouble with gymbal lock? The the left gear at 1:45 pivots really fast. EDIT: Yep, the answer's at 5:07.

[@OrangeC7]

I wonder if a useful application for this might be able to avoid that situation through software. It obviously depends on how necessary this specific design would be for said application

[@Tomwesstein]

I was wondering the same thing. But directly at pole it would be possible just to rotate the direction of the monopole gear, instead of pivoting it really fast. But this is only possible AT pole, not in the vicinity of the pole. I also wonder if mounting the motors opposite to each other instead of under an angle has influence on where the pole point is.

[@jasonwilde197]

I love the music in this video, it works perfectly with what is on screen!

[@Tim-Kaa]

Nice

[@user-oj4xh8cg2l]

interesting, though some comments on play and stiction would be required to assess the usefulness of the setup. e.g. towards instant 4'30" for instance, one can clearly see the lack os smoothness oof the motion, which is likely to result from non constant friction of a plasticly constraint setup in order to reduce play. then there is the difficulty of the computational inverse geometry with poles...

[@user-oj4xh8cg2l]

@David Galea then some without breaking a sweat manage to look not too smart by totally missing the point