Hi Alan. Yes, those look like Firgelli actuators. At $6,000 I think
a guy whose capable of building a submarine can probably cobble together an
arm !
I've got a few preliminary sketches worked up for some arms using
different geometries and different types of actuators. I was inspired by Dan
Brewer's pneumatic arm from the Holland, Michigan, Psubs Convention.
He used off-the-shelf Bimba air cylinders and hooked them up to a small
hydraulic pump. I think he said he was using vegetable oil to move the
cylinders. Very simple design. He actually retreived a golf ball off thr
bottom during a dive there. Pretty cool !
The sketches I have so far for an articulating arm use the standard
type elbow, wrist, grabber joints and then there's another that uses a
telescoping design. I'll shrink them down and put them up later.
Vance maybe will have the hand operated "cue-ball socket" arm to show us
at this year's convention in Florida. That should be very interesting if he's
able to "get-er-done" by then.
I'm getting hardwood floors installed today so I better get out of the
way. Don't get much work done sittin' in front of this damn computer.
On a side thought, the actual "grabber" hand could be hooked to an air
gage or gas regulator so you could tell how hard you're squeezing the hand in
case you wanted to pick up something delicate.
Frank D.