Gem-gum balloon products
Many gem-gum products may come in the form of strong high pressure air inflated tube and similar shaped balloons Think: balloon-tent – (wiki-TODO: add illustration)
This is concept introduced as "balloon robots" by Josh Hall (better known as the inventor of utility fog).
As mentioned on the "gemstone based metamaterial" page in products of advanced atomically precise technology
actuators for reasonable forces use up only a rather tiny fraction of the product volume since they can run at very high power densities.
It should thus be possible to make various kinds of active structures that are inflatable and integrate actuators such as motor-muscles,
shearing drives and or other stuff.
Note: Gem-gum balloon products are not to confuse with: Aeronautic balloons out of robust metamaterials
Compartments
Micro sized compartmentisation (similar to the ones that may be found in diamondoid heat pump system or entropomechanical converter but maybe bigger and softer due to lower pressure) should allow for safe use of high pressures without explosion hazard. Internal (possibly tree like spreading) tensioning structures (e.g. cables) can define the outer structure.
Compression heat
To partly avoid thermal losses when compressing air for a fill of an inflatable structure the air can first be compressed into a small high surface area pre-chamber with target pressure. An entropomechanical converter system can be used to catch as much as possible from the free energy from the produced temperature difference.
Recycling
It may be to note that when such structures aren't filled to liquid densities (these are around 1000bar at room temperature, normally some 10 bar should suffice) in some sense one leaves the machine phase a bit.
Especially when non stiff indlatable structures are deflated new degrees of freedom are introduced. (Remotely related: atomically precise positioning; the products are still topologically atomically precise tough.) Very floppy structures must be brought back to microcomponent-level-machine phase (rolling the stuff up in a tensioned ordered state removing creases and tangles) before their microcomponents can be recycled. (See: management of soft cables and sheets)
(TODO: Do more rewriting here for better comprehensability.)
Use in Space
In very cold environments below the boiling point of air (~ liquid nitrogen) like in the outer solar system either heating and isolating is needed or hydrogen can be used as filling gas.
Related
- Origami
- use in upgraded street infrastructure and advanced modular housing
- use as collapsible transport vehicles ("inflatable cars and planes") - after inflation not so compact energy storage cells and maybe some water for the necessary mass must be put in (e.g. taken from an upgraded street infrastructure) to have energy supply when leaving the road.
- use for diverse robotic applications including multi limbed sensory equipped shells
