Gunnerkrigg Court

1601

Splap.

I think somebody needs to hit You Tube to watch how arms work...

It occurs to me that learning to pilot your own body while it's small and weak is something of a safety feature. Harder to damage yourself and anyone else that way.

Hmm, there is a typo Kat's last speech bubble. It's supposed to be it instead of if.

Also, how do the muscles move without bones to hold them steady? I know that they are part robotic so they may not be necessary, but wouldn't that up the difficulty?

However octopuses and squid do it, presumably.

I was going to go with an elephant's trunk.

Is there no information on hand about how muscles work? Like in text-books or the internet or some shit? You're a robot, dude. Get with the program.

edited 4th Dec '15 9:22:26 AM by Eagal

I think Kat forgot something about human muscle structure... it needs a bone as a base. Robot's arms are wet noodles.

Well, that's assuming that the arm was engineered to function like a human arm.

Whatever material she used to make the muscles might be able to harden and contract way more than human muscles, or have other weird properties that can't be replicated with organic parts.

That, or maybe the "wet noodle" structure is intentional? Maybe the arm is supposed to be super elastic and stretchy to avoid harming anyone while he is learning to use like mentionned above.

Or harming himself. If he had bones he might just end up snapping them in half.

I think it would still help.

Anyone else seeing a parallel between Robot's new arm and Ysengrin's tree-mecha suit?

Both the Court (through Kat) and the Forest (through Coyote) are able to imitate human bodies.

Two girls and a tentacle monster shall frolic.

Looking at the arm, there's rather more purple around where the elbow would be, so it's possible that there is an internal structure of sorts, but not permanently stiff like bones are.

It's probably cartilage of some kind. How do octopus tentacles work? That's what I keep picturing.

Well, according to the usual place it's "a crosshatch of helical collagen fibres in opposition to internal muscular hydrostatic pressure."

Which I think means more or less like a tongue.

edited 5th Dec '15 12:22:49 PM by Elfive

Yep, "muscular hydrostat" is the name for that general sort of structure.

1602

Is that the only thing you've broken?

Well, that didn't take long...

Also, only two fingers? I mean sure, keep things simple, but only two? Really you should have three, and a palm-structure for good grip.

Also, new page, and robot learns the downside of the biological world.

edited 9th Dec '15 12:05:23 AM by MattII

He looks like he just found out the amber contains half a large spider.

Also, Kat said, "world of the biologic", which sounds odd to me, surely she means "world of biology"?

Grow it, prune it, break it, heal it...

edited 9th Dec '15 2:20:01 AM by Elfive

I think she means world of the biological.

The logic of bio!