New, Strong Artificial Muscles Developed

New artificial muscles that are strong enough to rotate objects with same flexibility of an elephant's trunk or octopus limbs has been developed by scientists.

New artificial muscles that are strong enough to rotate objects with same flexibility of an elephant's trunk or octopus limbs have been developed by scientists.

The researchers developed the artificial muscles that can rotate 250 degrees per millimetre of muscle length, using yarns of carbon nanotubes that are enormously strong, tough and highly flexible.

Scientists Explain Surprising Behaviour of Tiny 'Artificial Muscles'
Researchers at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have uncovered the surprising behaviour of an exotic class of 'artificial muscles'

This is more than a thousand times that of available artificial muscles composed of shape memory alloys, conducting organic polymers or ferroelectrics, a class of materials that can hold both positive and negative electric charges, even in the absence of voltage.

"What's amazing is that these barely visible yarns composed of fibres 10,000 times thinner than a human hair can move and rapidly rotate objects two thousand times their own weight," said Assoc. Prof. John Madden, University of British Columbia Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

"While not large enough to drive an arm or power a car, this new generation of artificial muscles - which are simple and inexpensive to make - could be used to make tiny valves, positioners, pumps, stirrers and flagella for use in drug discovery, precision assembly and perhaps even to propel tiny objects inside the bloodstream," Madden added.

Alcohol May Soon Power Artificial Muscles, Prosthetic Limbs
Instead of batteries, artificial muscles driving robots or prosthetic limbs might soon be powered by a kind of alcohol that can make people blind, say researchers.

The discovery has been published online on Science Express.

Source-ANI

Attempt to Build Artificial Muscles from Carbon Nanofibres in the Offing
An Indian origin scientist at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, is attempting to build artificial muscles using carbon nanofibres.

Synthetic Brains Closer to Reality Thanks to Carbon Nanotubes
A carbon nanotube synapse circuit that functions like a neuron, the building block of the brain, has been developed by engineering researchers at the University of Southern California.