Artificial Muscles

Tiny robots could serve useful functions, but shrinking actuators has proven challenging. Now researchers at the University of Wollongong have made artificial muscles that surpass your puny natural ones, inspired by the “supercoiling” of DNA strands.

Scientists have combined a technique known as direct cell reprogramming with a new type of scaffold to ensure transplanted cells thrive in their new environment, demonstrating the potential of the technique by treating severe muscle loss in mice.

Soft-bodied robots move via pneumatic "muscles" that are selectively inflated or deflated. And while the muscles themselves may be soft and squishy, they're usually hooked up to hard, unwieldy pumps. A new pump, however, is both small and flexible.

Heart failure often requires a transplant of the whole organ. Now scientists at EPFL have developed an artificial aorta that can help pump blood, taking some of the pressure off the heart to reduce or even eliminate the need for a transplant.

If swarms of tiny robots are ever going to be used for purposes such as exploring disaster sites, then they'd better be rugged. A bot created at the EPFL research institute seems to fit the bill, as it can withstand being squished by a fly swatter.

We've watched with interest as subsequent developments have allowed RoboBee to fly, swim, hover, perch and lose its tether. Now it's become the first microrobot to achieve controlled flight using soft artificial muscles.

If you build a soft robot, you don't want to put rigid actuators inside. With that in mind, scientists have created pliable artificial muscles.

​Although we've seen robotic fish designed to unobtrusively study marine life, scientists more often use remote-operated vehicles with noisy propellers that scare animals. That could eventually change, however, thanks to the development of a totally silent, transparent, soft-bodied robotic eel.

Researchers from the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois have developed an artificial muscle made of carbon fiber and rubber that can lift over 12,000 times its own weight.

​Researchers from Harvard and MIT say that robots made of soft materials are often not as strong as their rigid counterparts. This thinking has led to the development of inexpensive artificial muscles that have been designed to give soft robots superpowers.​

The emerging field of soft robotics is helping to make robots safer, but recreating muscle is no easy task. Now, mechanical engineers from Columbia University have developed a synthetic soft muscle that’s much more simple to make and run than others, and is stronger than the real thing.

There are many people who could use a bit of help moving their limbs, but they don't necessarily need a full-on exoskeleton. Well, imagine if their clothes could provide that help. Such a thing may one day be possible, thanks to the recent creation of "textile muscles."