Dude
Another DOSTATECH production
Behind the scene
The Dude anatomy
To be or not to be
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The Brain
Dude has powerful telepathic abilities. His intelligence derives from the outside world, as if his mind was outside of himself. That is because IT IS outside. Dude's computer that run his programs is not located inside Dude's body, it is a remote computer that connects to Dude via wifi. However, Dude does have an inner brain, more precisely a left and a right lobe that are unusually located on his back, within his control centre. The left and right lobes are actually two robotic Wifi modules that provide an interface between his muscles, eyes, and speech to the remote Wifi computer. If you see Dude in a major depression, or without any aptitude, don't look further; there most likely a telepathic issue (bad Wifi connection).
The left and the right lobes
(the two white robotic Wifi modules)
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The Head
As mentioned above, there is no brain inside Dude's head, but it does contain:
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Muscles (servo motors) to turn his head up & down and left & right.
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Muscles (servo motors) to move his eyes around.
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Muscles (servo motors) to open & close his mouth.
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A bionic eye (digital camera), embedded in his left eye, to detect and track activities.
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Speaker ears (speakers embedded inside his ears) to talk in stereo.
Finished head, with speaker ears, blue eyes and moving jaw.
Inside view, right side.
Head skeleton, with partial jaw mechanism
Rear inside view, showing wiring for servo motors and speaker ears
Left side with speaker ear removed.
Inside parts of the head.
Top left inside view.
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The Heart
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Dude had a heart deficiency at birth, and necessitated a highly sophisticated heart surgical procedure to replace his heart with an Arc-Reactor. Consequently, he now requires a battery (25C, 6600mA LiPo) to power up a pace maker (Arduino-Uno microcontroller board) to activate the Arc-Reactor (Red/Green/Blue/White LED Neo-Pixel-Ring).
Pace Maker (Arduino-Uno microcontroller board)
25C, 6600mA LiPo battery
Click to see the Arc-Reactor in action.
The Control Center
In the back of Dude skeleton, there is a control center which comprises of the following:
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His pace maker (Arduino-Uno microcontroller module) to drive the Arc-Reactor (Neo-Pixel-Ring)
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Battery to run the pace maker
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Power distribution system (four BEC voltage regulators) to energize the Robotic Wifi modules, the hefty muscles, the pace maker, and the Arc-Reactor
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The left and right lobes (Robotic Wifi modules)
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The nervous distribution system (servo motors wiring interface)
The nervous system links all the muscles (servo motors) to the lobes of the brain (Robotic Wifi module). Each muscle requires three nerves (electrical wires). Multiply this by 27 muscles and you get a significantly complex nervous system. It is also through the nervous system that Dude is capable of seeing (camera), hearing (microphone) and talking (speaker ears).
Control center, first generation.
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Only one robotic Wifi module.
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Using a car battery starter.
Control center, second generation.
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Two Robotic Wifi modules.
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Car battery starter packaged inside black plastic box.
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Voltage regulators strapped to battery box.
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Power switches enclosed inside control box.
Control center, third generation.
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Two Robotic Wifi modules.
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Four BEC voltage regulators.
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Three terminal block power distribution.
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Arduino-Uno microcontroller board (pace maker).
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25C, 6600mA LiPo battery
Rear inside view, showing wiring for servo motors and speaker ears
Added back cover.
Refitting wiring assembly.
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The Muscles
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There are four types of muscles (servo motors); direct drive, screw type, worm gear and contraction/expansion type muscles.
Direct drive
Direct drive muscles (servo motors directly connected to motion part) have very little torque, but are very compact, integrating perfectly for eyes and jaw movements.
Screw type
Screw type muscles (servo motors connected to screw type gear mechanism) provides quick movement but limited torque, perfect for head movement.
Worm gear
Worm gear type muscle (servo motors connected to warm gear) offers the highest torque required for arm lifting actions.
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Note that both screw type and worm gear type muscles require the servo motor to be tampered with. Inside any servo motor, there is a variable potentiometer that tells the electronic the rotational angle of the servo. Since we want the rotational angle of the total assembly mechanism (let say the shoulder), not the servo itself, the internal potentiometer needs to be extracted from inside the servo and refitted on the outside of the final assembly (shoulder output).
Screw type muscle. Servo motor turning a screw which rotate the shoulder.
Worm gear type muscle for the shoulder. Servo motor turning a screw which rotates a gear attached to the shoulder.
Worm gear type muscle for the waist rotation movement. Due to the heavy load above the waist, two servo motors arranged in a pull-push configuration provide more than the necessary torque.
Extracting the potentiometer from inside the servo motor. Good thing Jazz is supervising the work.
Contraction/Expansion
And finally, the contraction/expansion type muscle. These are used for fingers movement. Since there is no room to fit large muscles (five servo motors) inside the hand to move the five fingers, the muscles (motors) are relocated in the forearm and tendons (fishing wires) link the muscles to the fingers. The tendons are attached from the end of the fingers to the muscles. When the motor turns clockwise, the fishing wire pulls the end of the finger from the outside, which expand and open the finger. When the motor turns counter-clockwise, the fishing wire pulls the end of the finger from the inside, which contract and close the finger.
Running the tendons (fishing wires) between the muscles (servo motors) and the end of the fingers
Click the video to see the fingers in action
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Disability
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Paraplegic
Even though Dude had a leg implant and a leg transplant, he still can not walk and has no feeling in his legs. And don't hold your breath waiting for Dude to walk.
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No emotion (No hard feeling)
Dude does not get "moved" easily. In fact, he is totally emotionless, meaning he has no emotion or feeling whatsoever. In medical term, he is Alexithymic.
So don't feel bad if you insult him
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No sexual diversity
How do you call an individual that has no sexual orientation or has no gender or has them all. A unique sexual identity that does not even fit in sexual minority ? Hmmm, something to tinker about ! Maybe our society will have to add a new classification for Dude since he's not covered in the LGBTQ+.
Dude feels so alone in this world !