from the origami-like-sex-robots-with-unprecedented-power-levels dept.
Origami-like soft robot can lift 1000 times its weight
Soft robotics allow machines to move in ways which mimic living organisms, but increased flexibility usually means reduced strength, which limits its use. Now, scientists at MIT CSAIL & Harvard have developed origami-like artificial muscles that add much-needed strength to soft robots, allowing them to lift objects as much as 1,000 times their own weight using only water or air pressure. One 2.6 gram muscle is able to lift a 3 kilogram object, which is the same as a duck lifting a car.
The artificial muscles are made up of a plastic inner skeleton surrounded by air or water inside a sealed bag -- the "skin". Applying a vacuum to the inside of the bag initiates the muscle's movement, creating tension that drives the motion. No power source or human input is needed to direct the muscle, as it's guided purely by the composition of the skeleton.
In experiments, the researchers created muscles that can lift a flower off the ground, twist into a coil and contract down to 10 percent of their original size. They even made a muscle out of a water-soluble polymer, which means the technology could be used in natural setting with minimal environmental impact. Other potential applications include deep sea research, minimally invasive surgery and transformable architecture.
Also at Harvard's Wyss Institute, The Verge, LA Times, and Fast Company.
Fluid-driven origami-inspired artificial muscles (open, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1713450114) (DX)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 28 2017, @07:56PM
... that MIT and Harvard scientists designed a novel robot to roll her out of bed.
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Archon V2.0 on Tuesday November 28 2017, @08:02PM (5 children)
> which is the same as a duck lifting a car.
Which would you rather fight, 100 duck-sized cars or 1 car-sized duck?
(Score: 3, Disagree) by takyon on Tuesday November 28 2017, @08:12PM (1 child)
I would rather fight the RC cars. They don't hurt that much when they run over your foot.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Funny) by edIII on Tuesday November 28 2017, @10:32PM
They hardly ever run over your foot, but instead nail you in the back of the heel, or worse, end up hitting your shins. If it's a hit on the side, you could be jumping up and down for a second with your ankle screaming.
That being said, fighting RC cars is pretty much two dimensional. Which means you're not really fighting 100, but maybe 8 or 9 at the same time from all directions.You could stand on a chair and defeat them. Still.... the car sized duck might be defeated by loaves of bread and a well placed grenade. That, and you might actually make friends with the duck. If it's female, you might be sitting there with eggs that could feed whole families.
Only one of these situations has the possibility of a good BBQ afterwards too. I'll take the duck.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 28 2017, @09:01PM (2 children)
Why a duck?
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday November 28 2017, @11:36PM (1 child)
Because you can duck a duck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday November 29 2017, @12:53AM
And you can't fly a fly.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by ilsa on Tuesday November 28 2017, @08:39PM
Did they really have to pick that particular graphic for the top of the article? I'm sure anyone who has played Fallout 4 probably went "Oh shit" as soon as the page loaded.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bart9h on Tuesday November 28 2017, @08:44PM (1 child)
But a duck is not all muscle. What about the battery, and the rest of the body of the robot?
(Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Tuesday November 28 2017, @09:29PM
> But a duck is not all muscle.
Clearly you don't hang around duck gyms. Duckbro is swole.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 28 2017, @09:55PM (2 children)
Sextoys.
Don't even bother arguing, you know you're wrong.
The G-bot will find your G-spot with Ivy League Technology! And then proceed to stimulate it with AI vibrato-strokulations!
(Male model with prostate manhandling coming soon!)
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday November 28 2017, @10:58PM
Check the dept.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Funny) by Bot on Wednesday November 29 2017, @03:54PM
Get artificial muscles, they said.
You will have better jobs, they said.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Rivenaleem on Wednesday November 29 2017, @01:49PM
I, for one, welcome our car-lifting duck overlords.