Human-muscle-inspired single fibre actuator with reversible percolation

Artificial muscle mimics human muscles

31 March 2023

A lightweight artificial muscle that mimics the structure and mechanism of human muscles is both strong and tough.

Artificial muscles are being developed for use in wearable devices, soft robotics and medical systems. Some artificial muscles outperform their natural counterparts in certain properties, but natural muscles have the upper hand when all aspects are considered.

Now, a team led by researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in South Korea has demonstrated an artificial muscle that closely resembles human muscles and exhibits a good, well-rounded performance.

They achieved this by combining a network of highly aligned liquid crystals with slithers of graphene.

A self-crawling worm based on the artificial muscle beat a real inchworm to the finishing line in a race.

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References

1. Nature Nanotechnology 17, 1198–1205 (2022). doi: 10.1038/s41565-022-01220-2