Owen Holland

What makes CRONOS different from other robots is that the positions and lines of pull of the muscles are also similar to those of the corresponding real muscles, and the tendons are positioned in biomimetically consistent ways. For this initial investigation, not all muscles were represented some were replaced by tendons alone, appropriately tensioned. Even before powering CRONOS up, it is clear that there is a fundamental difference between this and the conventional approach. You take his hand and shake it: it moves easily, and so does his whole skeleton. This multi-degree-of-freedom structure, supported by the tensions between dozens of elastic elements, responds as a whole, transmitting force and movement well beyond the point of contact.