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posted by janrinok on Sunday March 02 2014, @07:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the six-million-dollar-man dept.

threedigits writes:

"The technology to build giant robots is one bit step closer: a group of international researchers have published a paper describing a method to create artificial muscle fibres. The cool thing is that they are about 100 times stronger than biological muscle tissue, and you can try it at home! The basis is polyethylene or nylon string, AKA fishing line. A great video is available on Hack A Day."

 
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  • (Score: 1) by NovelUserName on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:08PM

    by NovelUserName (768) on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:08PM (#9811)

    In the HAD video where the energy source is heat application, there doesn't seem to be much torque applied. From the paper abstract(I don't have access to the full document at the moment) it sounds like you might be able to drive these by applying torsion and the end. In that case you could presumably put the fiber in a sheath and twist against the sheath rather than the insertion point of the muscle.

    Either way I think a bigger problem is sourcing power: The claim is that these things have a mechanical power output per mass on par with a jet engine, so you either need a heat source large enough to support that kind of energy transfer, or a torsion motor with the same power output. When you consider the combination of twisted fiber AND the energy source, the size is probably much less impressive than noted by the research team (The HAD video shows a heat gun that probably weighs 10000x the fiber that they are demonstrating).

    That said, this is a cool way of driving linear motion- I may have to play with it some time.

  • (Score: 1) by jmoschner on Monday March 03 2014, @02:01AM

    by jmoschner (3296) on Monday March 03 2014, @02:01AM (#9870)

    While early tests are using things like heat guns, heating elements could eventually be woven betwen the fibers.