• Chemo@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    9 hours ago

    It’s a good question. One of the major examples are wheelchairs. They could be much faster then they are but they are deliberately restricted to leg speed. Of course for safety reasons and so on but its kinda obvious that we don’t trust anyone disabled to excel non-disabled people.

    • Longpork3@lemmy.nz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      9 hours ago

      Counter-point to that would be blade-style leg prostheses, with which ‘disabled’ people can acheive speeds far greater than non-augmented people.

    • milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      4 hours ago

      You can get more raw strength out of a machine, but our biological bodies are something incredible, really. And when you need extra strength, there are machines you can operate with your body (e.g. with your fingers!) and leave behind when you don’t need them.

  • TomatenMark@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    22 hours ago

    Pretty much what everyone already said The force you want to move affects your whole body, you move objects against the effects of gravity, therefore your whole body needs to be in action. If you lift something over your head you put yourself between the object and the center of gravity, so your whole body needs to withstand the force of both Wich brings us to either an exoskelleton or an replacement, or Augmentation, of almost all your bones and muscles

  • AA5B@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    26
    ·
    1 day ago

    You want an exoskeleton. No need to replace your arm, just wear something that augments it, and the rest of your body.

    There are some great ones in sci fi, but google ot and see the ones available in real life

  • AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    42
    ·
    1 day ago

    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.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      8 hours ago

      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.

    • logos@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      1 day ago

      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.

      • TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        1 day ago

        I guess the only solution is to become a full borg. That way, everyone titanium bone would be rated to handle superhuman stress and you could cary much more.

          • FoxyFerengi@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            7
            ·
            1 day ago

            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

          • TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 day ago

            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

            • milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              4 hours ago

              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!

              • TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                2 hours ago

                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”).

  • HappyTimeHarry@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 day ago

    Money and lack of scientific reasearch or surgical knowledge are i think your primary limiting factors.

  • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 day ago

    While you wait, I suggest reading the book called Machine Man by Max Barry which is a fictional story about a person doing just that.