MachinePix Weekly #15

Halo-gravity traction 👼, big robot butts 🍑, and a kale/cannabis crossover 🥗

Last week’s interview with Carl Bass was by far the most popular issue to date! Going forward, I expect to publish interviews every other week (in even-numbered issues), and will be looking for interesting new content for the odd numbered issues. Have any ideas? Would love to hear from you directly.

The most popular post last week by an order of magnitude was a this halo-gravity traction system for children.

I’m always looking for interesting people to interview, have anyone in mind?

—Kane

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The Week in Review

This past week’s most popular post. Halo-gravity traction actually refers to a variety of techniques and devices that utilize the halo ring. As crazy as it looks, children with spinal deformities feel significantly less discomfort as a result of this therapy.

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Halo-gravity traction is a technique to gently straighten the spine of children with severe scoliosis.

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The company Gravity allows you to book 90 minute demo flights with them in their hangar in the UK.

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The Royal Navy testing the Daedalus Mark I jet suit by Gravity Industries.

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I’m just going to say it: that’s a big butt. Who chooses the butt for testing? Is there a certifying body or standard for testing butts?

MachinePix @MachinePix

Tesla Model 3 seat ingress and egress durability testing using a FANUC R-2000iC/165F robot arm.

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Multiple people asked me if this works for kale. The short answer is “I don’t know”, but looking at some kale strippers, I’d guess “probably”. Surprisingly, I can’t find any kale stripper machines on Alibaba—does any body that runs a cannabis operation want to test this for me?

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Mother Bucker cannabis bucking machine by Munch Machine.

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This is a good prequel to the bead-threading machine from MachinePix #10.

MachinePix @MachinePix

Cutting wood beads on a lathe.

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Postscript

I recently bought lumber from my local MacBeath Hardwood to make a coffee table and side table. I ended up buying hardware from hairpinlegs.com which has a really comprehensive selection—for anyone halfway handy that likes simpler tables/stools/benches, it’s so easy to custom build exactly what you want these days.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, forward it to friends (or interesting enemies). I am always looking to connect with interesting people and learn about interesting machines—reach out!

—Kane