Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Lucerne Labs has long delved into biomimetic technology, using it in some way from its smallest droids to its largest starships. With the advent of its synthetic soldiers, work began on creating the artificial versions of many baseline humanoid biological systems, resulting in the Psyhke-series Droid Brains and Soma-series Droid Chassis. Yet no immediate attempt was made to recreate muscles, and initial synthetic soldiers used almost standard servomotors which have been employed on thousands of different droid models over the years. However, exposure to EIC’s Hardfiber Droid Musculture System and EIC droids from joint research on the Waystation caused Lucerne Labs to reconsider their approach.
While the company did not have access to echani graphite in any large amount, it found that some existing materials could provide a similar physical performance, even if it did not quite have the resilience to lightsabers that Echani Graphite inherently contained. Focusing on a more closely mimicking natural biological processes and designs than Hardfiber, the resulting Torulus system is a fairly adequate replacement for muscles in organic-based systems and servo-motors in droids and other similar machines. By relying on a web of chemical reactions and the careful application of heat, Torulus manages to avoid some of the more common vulnerabilities that biological muscles and servo-motors suffer from. However, due to this esoteric design and construction, they are also noticeably harder to repair, especially in the field. It does not have the ability to self-heal or react to medicines like a biological system, nor does it have standard, interchangeable parts like most mechanically-based systems.
Because of these faults, Torulus is unlikely to ever fully replace servo-motors within Lucerne Labs, yet it does provide the company’s designers with yet another avenue to advance the synthetic soldier line and potentially create more biot-based technology to a level previously unobtainable to the company. Lucerne Labs is also exporting Torulus for medical purposes to replace damaged organic muscles which cannot otherwise be repaired or obtained through cloning by pairing the system with a miniaturized energy converter and neuro-connectors already used in some cybernetic parts. A number of more daring and extreme organics have had Torulus grafted to existing muscle groups to massively increase their strength and dexterity, though in most of these more extreme cases, the user is now rather grotesque looking from this modifications as well.
- Intent: To create an artificial muscle system for use in droids, power armor, and other applicable technologies
- Image Source: N/A
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: Some in-character and Out of Character inspiration from Hardfiber Droid Musculature System
- Manufacturer: Lucerne Labs
- Affiliation: Directorate, Silver Jedi, Closed-Market
- Model: Torulus-series Artificial Musculature System
- Modularity: No
- Production: Mass-Produced
- Material: burthan threads, biofiber, thermal gel with various suspended ions, various chemomechanical polymers
- Ion-based Actuation: Torulus mimics the natural contraction and extension of muscle fibers by using interlocked and twisted strands of biofiber and burthan thread to take the place of natural muscle fibers. These strands are either suspended in or enclose pockets of thermal gel that have various ions suspended in them. The action of ions diffusing into this liquid from the fibers or moving in from the gel into the thread causes the structure of the thread to change, thereby causing it to contract or extend based on the input from its Thermal-Chemical control.
- Thermal-Chemical Control: Torulus uses a combination of chemical and thermal control gates to actuate the muscle’s movements. This is accomplished by the use of small pockets of thermal gel with chemical additives which can stimulate chemically controlled gates. At multiple ends of the pocket are chemomechanical polymers which attach to the burthan-biofiber strands of the artificial muscle itself. Precise and fine movements are typically trigged by precise interactions of these chemical additives acting on individual or small groups of Torulus’s fibers, which then trigger the fibers to slightly change shape to permit the entrance or escape of different ions throughout the rest of the artificial muscle strand, leading to cascading chain reaction. However, the application of heat to the thermal gel via catalyzed chemical reactions or electricity (often from derived from embedded micro photovoltaic cells) can also trigger exceptionally quick and strong gross muscle movements, though these often lack the fine control and grace of the purely chemical-based (but slower) actions.
- Adaptable: Torulus threads and fibers can be configured in multiple different arrangements, allowing to fulfill the role of any muscles in almost any sort of musculoskeletal function. Strands can be woven in a delicate manner to provide extremely fine motor manipulation, or alternatively, woven in thick, overlapping layers to provide strength far exceeding that of biological material in the same space. Most applications of Torulus fall somewhat in between these two extremes, but generally provide more strength than the typical biological-based muscle but less strength than that of the most heavy-grade servo-motors, but with more precision and grace than servo-motors as well.
- More than meets the Eye: At a casual glance, Torulus appears to be ordinary, living muscle tissue to the average layperson. Additionally, most general purpose and targeting scanners pick up Torulus as being living tissue thanks to its partial biofiber-based construction. However, dedicated medical scanners and more highly trained biological/medical personnel will realize with a little work that it is of artificial construction.
- Resilient: Torulus can take far more strain than living tissue, which not only accounts for the greater strength than biological muscles, but also makes it more durable against physical and thermal damage than living tissue.
- Defense in principle: This method of construction and action of Torulus, using physical properties and chemistry to function, is not dependent on electricity, which provides it with an inherent defense against EMP, ion, and other similarly based attacks. It also does not contain any biological components either, making it not susceptible to diseases unlike cloned or vat-grown muscles.
- Can’t call the doctor nor the mechanic: Torulus occupies a strange niche between the living and the automated, which means that specialists from either field typically cannot fix it, especially in the field. Parts cannot be simply removed and replaced as with most automated systems, and repairs to objects using Torulus is more akin to performing surgery. Unlike biological muscles, Torulus does not have any ability of its own to self-heal either or react to medicines.
- Chemical Weapons: Unlike automated/mechanical counterparts, Torulus is especially vulnerable to even mild chemical weapons, even low-strength acids and bases. This isn’t because of the relatively low destruction that these agents cause, but by the ion imbalances they can cause within the system itself, causing the system to malfunction by either completely locking up the muscle or by causing it to incessantly spasm in vicious feedback loops.
Lucerne Labs has long delved into biomimetic technology, using it in some way from its smallest droids to its largest starships. With the advent of its synthetic soldiers, work began on creating the artificial versions of many baseline humanoid biological systems, resulting in the Psyhke-series Droid Brains and Soma-series Droid Chassis. Yet no immediate attempt was made to recreate muscles, and initial synthetic soldiers used almost standard servomotors which have been employed on thousands of different droid models over the years. However, exposure to EIC’s Hardfiber Droid Musculture System and EIC droids from joint research on the Waystation caused Lucerne Labs to reconsider their approach.
While the company did not have access to echani graphite in any large amount, it found that some existing materials could provide a similar physical performance, even if it did not quite have the resilience to lightsabers that Echani Graphite inherently contained. Focusing on a more closely mimicking natural biological processes and designs than Hardfiber, the resulting Torulus system is a fairly adequate replacement for muscles in organic-based systems and servo-motors in droids and other similar machines. By relying on a web of chemical reactions and the careful application of heat, Torulus manages to avoid some of the more common vulnerabilities that biological muscles and servo-motors suffer from. However, due to this esoteric design and construction, they are also noticeably harder to repair, especially in the field. It does not have the ability to self-heal or react to medicines like a biological system, nor does it have standard, interchangeable parts like most mechanically-based systems.
Because of these faults, Torulus is unlikely to ever fully replace servo-motors within Lucerne Labs, yet it does provide the company’s designers with yet another avenue to advance the synthetic soldier line and potentially create more biot-based technology to a level previously unobtainable to the company. Lucerne Labs is also exporting Torulus for medical purposes to replace damaged organic muscles which cannot otherwise be repaired or obtained through cloning by pairing the system with a miniaturized energy converter and neuro-connectors already used in some cybernetic parts. A number of more daring and extreme organics have had Torulus grafted to existing muscle groups to massively increase their strength and dexterity, though in most of these more extreme cases, the user is now rather grotesque looking from this modifications as well.