I guess I have to take back every sarcastic thing I ever said about overly elaborate tamping.

(link courtesy of John di Ruocco of Mr Espresso)

Anne Ju wrote:They call it a universal gripper... Here's how it works: An everyday party balloon filled with ground coffee -- any variety will do -- is attached to a robotic arm. The coffee-filled balloon presses down and deforms around the desired object, and then a vacuum sucks the air out of the balloon, solidifying its grip. When the vacuum is released, the balloon becomes soft again, and the gripper lets go.

Those in EMT service will realize that this is what we called a vacuum splint. These are much the same as described above, but instead of a balloon they are a sort of plastic sheet material (treated fabric?) that is air tight and sealed on all edges. They come in various sizes and shapes. Rectangular mostly, but also "Ell" shaped for elbows and there are neck brace sizes as well iirc.. They are partially filled with some sort of bead-like material, about the size of beanbag chair stuffing. There is a Schrader valve on the bag. The bag is wrapped around the limb to be immobilized and the air pulled out with a hand vacuum pump. The bag quickly goes from soft and flimsy to hard, stiff, and virtually un-bendable. They give excellent and almost immediate relief to accident victims with broken bones, torn soft tissue injuries, etc..

Cool! It's interesting to see how ideas travel or fail to travel. I guess nobody ever thought to look at EMTs for super high tech robot ideas.