Chapter 26

Zhang Yuan opened his laptop and began to read through the notes.

After reading through so many books on mathematics, perhaps he could attempt understanding his father’s notes, add on some of his thoughts of his own, and turn it into a thesis.

The function of a whole body motion mapping robot was for the robot to identically simulate movement of a human. It was a similar concept to the mechanical arm Ye Kaifu had built.

Its function shouldn’t be underestimated as it was the basis and premise of a dynamic exoskeleton!

A dynamic exoskeleton was also known as a powered suit. It was one of the current hot trends in research topics.

It was not only a type of war weapon but also something that could improve the lives of normal civilians. For example, it could directly replace a spacesuit.

Due to the rapid development of nanomaterials, spacesuits were heading towards the direction of simplicity and lightness. However, there were several aspects that were irreplaceable. Regardless of anything, a spacesuit had to be fitted with a large oxygen tank, numerous life support systems and communication systems.

Space was dangerous. Be it an oxygen leakage or a slight temperature change, any deviation of the norm could lead to a swift death. So, those life support systems were necessary and not a single one could be removed.

As a result, scientists came up with the idea of using a bulkier powered suit to replace spacesuits. With it, there would not be any problems in regards to cargo. Moreover, it was safer and more reliable because of its high-shock resistance, so even if the powered suit was struck by high-speed space debris, the astronauts would just suffer minor injuries.

In addition to replacing spacesuits, the powered suit could be connected through VR equipment, which meant it could replace humans to undergo dangerous and difficult work. Humans could only remotely control the suit from afar, lowering the risk of danger by a large mile.

However, it was easier said than done. The research on dynamic exoskeleton had been undergoing for a decade, and they were still in the experimental stages.

The main reason for that was because… the lack of technology.

For example, it was extremely easy for humans to grab a balloon and shake it in all four directions at high speeds.

However, the difficulty level of that movement for robots was even harder than reaching the skies!

And why was that so? It was because robots did not possess any self-consciousness. They were unaware of how much force to use or the direction they should shake, and all of those problems required mathematics to resolve.

It was impossible for even the most sensitive sensor to be as fully functional as human skin. In order to hold a balloon, the pressure of the mechanical arm had to be constantly adjusted; the pressure cannot be too soft or too strong, else the balloon would burst. Not to mention the even more difficult action of shaking the balloon at fast speeds.

A certain small company had invented a patent for rapid pressure measurement a decade ago, the MIA pressure sensing system. It was the same system Ye Kaifu used for his leather gloves, and the yearly patent fee earned by the company was at least hundreds of million.

Of course, other than the pressure of the hands, there were other difficulties too, such as the movement force of the joints, the body’s balancing ability, control algorithm, so on and so forth. Of course, it was impossible for Zhang Yuan alone to finish such a complex project that required all sorts of hardwares, softwares and millions of lines of code.

Therefore, his plans only included solving one of the more crucial problems and writing a thesis or drawing up a patent. It would be even better if he could generate income for the Deep Space Foundation.

“Let’s start writing the thesis!”

Afterwhich, he acted accordingly and a sentence appeared on the screen soon after.

The more he researched, the more he realized how profound and complex it was.

The main research subject in his dad’s idea was the complex kinematics of ’27 degrees of freedom’ for a mechanical arm. It included group theory, topology, and some knowledge of hypercomplex numbers. And to expand on that, it would be very laborious to do so.

Even if he understood his dad’s general idea, it did not mean that the thesis could be successfully written.

His dad only gave him a general direction to go walk on. In the end, he still had to rely on himself to complete the thesis.

Writing a thesis was a great pain in the bum; it was similar to squeezing water out of a sponge. There were tons of details to clarify. It was not a simple job to fully describe and display the idea.

Zhang Yuan’s brain started to run at full speed as he entered into a state of high concentration. He tried to sort out the directions but was stumped by the large amount of detailed questions very soon.

Instances like this were common. Many seemingly obvious questions turned into obstacles when it came to writing a thesis.

Zhang Yuan deeply sighed.

“With so many degrees of freedom kinematics coupled with strange algorithms, I can only understand but not independently come up with a solution with my current abilities. I really wonder how my dad was capable of this…”

“Oh right, Ye Kaifu, can you let me have a look at your program?” Zhang Yuan suddenly said.

“What program?” Ye Kaifu turned around and asked.

“The program for your mechanical arm.”

“Oh, sure. No problem. But, truthfully, I’m not very proficient at this programming language and I just learned it myself…” Ye Kaifu cautiously said.

Saying that he was not proficient was actually him just being modest.

For someone who could complete a complex algorithm like that, he was already much better compared to normal undergraduates!

Ye Kaifu looked at Zhang Yuan with a competing mindset as he wanted to know the capability of his new roommate.

Youngsters would always have a competing mentality. In particular for these astronauts who came from all over the world where most of them were relatively outstanding.

Soon, the relevant program was sent to Zhang Yuan’s computer and he pinched his nose as he took a look at the codes.

How should he describe the codes? Well, he can only agree that Ye Kaifu was self-taught and that his coding habits were not that particularly good.

Not to mention the lack of comments, the terms of the various variables and functions were actually ‘a,b,c,d’… It was basically difficult for others to understand his codes.

The bad aspect of this habit was that the coder could very well forget what the various codes were for after some time.

However, the calculation methods Ye Kaifu wrote was much simpler than the idea his dad came up with.

Very soon, he came up with a general idea.

The leather gloves were a very sensitive pressure sensor. The movement of the fingers would cause a pressure change in the glove. As such, after processing these data with some sort of algorithm, the direction where the finger was moving could be obtained.

“From there, the movement data will be transmitted to the mechanical arm, allowing it to move accordingly.”

This idea was very straightforward and there were no particularly good math models behind it. It mainly relied on the basic functions of the MIA pressure sensor.

And when evaluating the standard of the whole project and the process behind it, it would be at the ordinary level.

But of course, Ye Kaifu was only an undergraduate so expectations for him should not be too high. No one should expect an undergraduate to come up with some world-shaking work.

Zhang Yuan thought for some time and came up with numerous aspects that could be improved.

“Hey bro, is there anything wrong?” When Ye Kaifu saw Zhang Yuan’s rich expressions that included being deeply in thought and frowning, he could not help but ask in concern

Deep down, Ye Kaifu thought. ‘In such a short time, are you really capable of understanding the entire algorithm? But it shouldn’t be so… I had thought for quite some time before I came up with it… In any case, my ex-girlfriend and her male best friend did not understand it.’

“Ah, it’s nothing much. Just that there are several parts…” Zhang Yuan turned back and only after he saw Ye Kaifu’s calm expression did he continue talking, “…there are some parts where I disagree. Don’t take it to heart.”