What sounds like the start of a great post-apocalyptic movie is actually a reality: Researchers from the National University of Singapore’s Faculty of Engineering have successfully created artificial muscle that can be outfitted to a robot, giving the ‘bot the ability to lift 80 times its own weight and extend five times beyond its original length.
To put this into perspective, regarding the former point, that would be like a 190-pound man bench pressing a 7.5-ton African elephant.
The team was led by Dr. Adrian Koh from NUS’ Engineering Science Program and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. They’ve been working on this technology since July 2012.
“Our materials mimic those of the human muscle, responding quickly to electrical impulses, instead of slowly for mechanisms driven by hydraulics,” Dr. Koh said, explaining how his team managed to create this superhuman muscle material. “Robots move in a jerky manner because of this mechanism. Now, imagine artificial muscles which are pliable, extendable and react in a fraction of a second like those of a human. Robots equipped with such muscles will be able to function in a more human-like manner – and outperform humans in strength.”
In order to create this super material, Dr. Koh and his multidisciplinary team used polymers capable of stretching more than 10 times their original length. Scientifically speaking, this means the muscles have a strain displacement of 1,000%.
“We put theory to good use,” Dr. Koh said. “Last year, we calculated theoretically that polymer muscles driven by electrical impulse could potentially have a strain displacement of 1,000 per cent, lifting a load of up to 500 times its own weight. So I asked my students to strive towards this Holy Grail, no matter how impossible it sounded.”
While 80 times its own weight is nowhere near the goal of 500, it’s a step in the right direction, and a first in robotics. Also, the energy being generated by the muscles could, eventually lead to the robot being self-powered after a short period of charging (estimated to be less than a minute). So, not only does the muscle increase the robot’s efficiency, it’s good for the environment too.
“Our novel muscles are not just strong and responsive. Their movements produce a by-product — energy,” Dr. Koh explains. “As the muscles contract and expand, they are capable of converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. Due to the nature of this material, it is capable of packing a large amount of energy in a small package. We calculated that if one were to build an electrical generator from these soft materials, a 10-kg system is capable of producing the same amount of energy of a 1-ton electrical turbine.”
For his work, Dr. Koh received the Promising International Researcher Award at the 3rd International Conference on Electromechanically-Active Polymer Transducers and Artificial Muscles. The Award recognizes young researchers from outside Europe, who have made significant contributions in the field of electromechanically-active polymers, and display promise to successful career in the field.
Looking ahead, Dr. Koh and his team want to beef up their muscles even more. They also intend to file a patent for the materials they used and the right degree of electrical impulses applied. In about three to five years, the group expects to be able to come out with a robotic arm, roughly half the size of a human arm, which can wrestle with a human being’s — and win.
Story via: nus.edu.sg
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