Deep In Tech #4 - Protoclone: First Functional Human Clone with Dhanush Radhakrishna
Sep 12, 2025
Join Dhanush Radhakrishna, the visionary founder of Clone Robotics, as he unpacks the groundbreaking Protoclone — the world's first android with human-like capabilities. He discusses the unique benefits of emulating human anatomy, emphasizing how artificial muscles will enable lifelike movements. Dhanush reveals challenges like achieving untethered bipedal stability and integrating fluidic muscles for realism. Plus, he shares exciting potential applications of this technology as a personal companion, blending science with everyday utility!
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Fluidic Muscles Move To Hydraulic System
- Clone uses fluidic (McKibben-style) muscles pressurized with gas or liquid and will move from air prototyping to hydraulic water-based systems for untethered products.
- The final product will embed a compact hydraulic pump and reservoir inside the torso.
Pump As A Hydraulic Heart
- Dhanush likens the robot's pump to a hydraulic heart that pressurizes fluid to activate muscles.
- He notes the robot's 'heart' requires far higher power and pressure than a human heart.
Sim Fidelity Is Locomotion Bottleneck
- Robust bipedal locomotion requires high-fidelity physics simulation and domain randomization to bridge sim-to-real gaps.
- The musculoskeletal dynamics and non-cylinder geometry make faithful simulation the company's current bottleneck.