Roboden and slacked electric cable comparison. (via Diginfo)
From the Japanese company, Asahi Kasei Fibers, comes Roboden, the world's first elastic "electric/data/USB" cable. The company manufactures the famous Spandex material; it is only fitting that they bring elasticity to electronics. Matching the human body's skin stretch factor, the cable can elongate up to 1.5 times its length.
Developed with robotics in mind. Roboden allows for robots to move, twist, and bend its data and power cables without losing connection. Imagine no more long slacked cables. The Roboden cable has a spiraled internal mesh wiring surrounded by an elastic shell. The wiring is very similar to the design of the "Chinese finger trap" (Finger puzzle).
An Asahi Kasei representative explained the reason, as they see it, behind Roboden; "When we talked to Professor Inaba at The University of Tokyo, he advised us that, for robots to be more like people, they'll need to be soft, so they'll need something akin to skin. And if you make skin, you'll have wiring in the skin, so the wiring will need to follow the contours of the robot. Therefore, to make robots with a soft skin, it's probably essential for wiring to be able to expand and contract."
Depending on the meantime between failures, Roboden would be a great option for CNC equipment. Having long cables strung about often cause snag issues. Since normal cables have no give, loss of power, signal, and disasters soon follow. I look forward to seeing more about this product.
Eavesdropper
