Since I’m having fun with Elon cultists, here’s a beautiful example of tech thinking vs human thinking. The grotesquely dangerous CBRTRK has unsurprisingly turned out to be dangerous to its idiot buyers. The front trunk, like everything on the mobile sword, has sharp edges. The frunk, also like everything on the mobile sword, is fully automatic. You can’t simply open and close it. You must rely on Elon’s Supreme Will As Expressed Via Github Updates.
The frunk was injuring the delicate unused fingers of its idiot purchasers, automatically closing all the way regardless of obstacles. Automatic garage doors and electric doors on stores and electric windows on cars have solved this problem for many decades. When the motor encounters resistance, it turns off**. Normally this would happen when it hits the doorjamb or windowframe, but the same thing happens when it hits another obstacle like a foot or hand. Elon’s “programmers” disdained all previous analog thinking, so the frunk behaves like a Libertarian. Never yield, never stop, never reverse, never acknowledge the presence of other things in MY UNIVERSE. I am the sole occupant of the universe.
For some reason even Elon’s cultists gradually recognized that they were injuring their unused fingers, so Elon’s programmers sent out a Github update to make the frunk behave more like other automatic closers.
None of this is needed in the first fucking place. Just recognize that people have hands and muscles, and use the hands and muscles to open and close the door. Add a spring or counterweight if it’s too heavy.
Renault’s frunk had an elegant solution. It was hinged at the front for safety, and it opened more than 90 degrees so the lid’s own weight kept it open without a spring. Renault, of course, is French, the home of the Foy Rebellion.
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With electric motors this is done by a limit switch, either a physical part of the gearing or an electrical overcurrent sensor. Vacuum motors, formerly used on wipers and convertible tops and windows, didn’t need a switch. They had soft power or organic feedback. When a vacuum wiper froze up, or a vacuum window bumped into a hand, it simply yielded instead of continuing to apply the same torque as an electric motor does.
Polistra's Mill 