Leonardo’s lost robots: Rosheim speaks at TU
Josh Campbell, Staff Writer
photo: Jessie K. Finch / Collegian
The Norman M. Hulings Lectures in Engineering and Science began on Friday with a lecture from Mark Rosheim on Leonardo da Vinci’s pioneering work in the field of robotics.
Rosheim, founder and president of the Minneapolis-based mechanical design company Ross-Hime Designs, has spent years studying Leonardo’s anatomical and mechanical sketches. Some of those sketches are schematics for machines that present-day observers would recognize as robots.
Rosheim spoke about the opportunities he has had to actually build several of Leonardo’s designs, a challenge that was made more difficult because they were often incomplete and spread across many pages of other material.
Two of those designs are currently on display in the gallery of the Alan Chapman Activity Center. The first is a small three-wheeled cart, about two feet on each side, which Rosheim built in collaboration with Dr. Carlo Pedretti.
The cart is propelled by spring power, but what makes it truly ahead of its time is that it moves in a preprogrammed course which can be altered by repositioning a series of cams. Rosheim says that the cart constitutes history’s first design of an analog computer, with an effective speed of one operation per second.
The second piece is the Robot Knight, a suit of armor that can be moved by a series of pulleys and cords. Rosheim built the Knight with the support of the BBC, who commissioned his work for a special about Leonardo produced in 2002.
The Knight’s design is ingenious, but its range of motion is fairly narrow. Rosheim said that it was likely used to entertain the guests of one of Leonardo’s wealthy sponsors by opening its arms to greet them.
Rosheim also spoke briefly about Leonardo’s influence on his own work in robotics, which also finds much of its inspiration in the human body.
His most successful invention is the Omni-Wrist, which replicates the human wrist’s range of motion in a very durable design. It has been used in a variety of technologies from animated fountains in front of Las Vegas casinos to the nose-cones of heat-seeking missiles.
Ross-Hime Designs, Rosheim’s company, also created the Robotic Surrogate, a remotely operated robot which has all the range of motion of a human’s upper body. Though its functionality is much greater than the Robot Knight’s, its design owes an obvious debt to Leonardo.
A selection of Rosheim’s work will remain on display in the Gallery room of the ACAC until April 20. His 19th century reproduction of Leonardo’s Codex Atlanticus will be on display in the Satin Room of McFarlin Library’s special collections until April 20 as well.
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