Hi Malachi - wave drives or harmonic drives can have ratios in the 100s 1000s & no backlash. A capstan say 10mm dia to get to 500:1 will need a wheel of 5000mm dia to get this. 5000mm is a bit big for a part usually. But keep thinking. Maybe find a problem to solve to focus the bubbles. Cable drives suffer from stretch, the cable walks around on the drum, it needs a tensioning mechanism to maintain friction.... If its used in a positioning application these factors mean you don't know where the effector is. You'll need a feedback system to do this and these are getting cheaper... Peter twisting rope is sort of how actual muscle cells work I think...I prefer vectran it does not creep or relax, look up crystalline vs non crystalline plastics

sidetrack https://www.taskaprosthetics.com/