This Artificial Muscle Could Be What Powers the Locomotion of Future Robots

Amaze Lab

This is a robotic leg, one currently in development by engineers at ETH Zurich and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems. However, it’s not using actuators, cogs or other conventional motors to move, but rather artificial muscles.

Transcript

00:00This is, as you might have guessed, a robotic leg.

00:07One currently in development by engineers at ETH Zurich and the Max Planck Institute

00:11for Intelligent Systems.

00:12However, it's not using actuators, cogs or other conventional robotics to move, but rather

00:17artificial muscles.

00:19The researchers are calling them electrohydraulics, which use oil-filled plastic bags with conductive

00:23electrodes on either side.

00:25Here's one of the researchers, Thomas Buckner, to explain.

00:28Now, when we activate these muscles, the so-called electrohydraulic actuator sits together,

00:34which means the electrodes come closer and push the oil to the other side of the actuator.

00:41This leads to a contraction and thickening of the muscle, similar to a human muscle.

00:46They add that this type of system also has an antagonistic pairing, similar to the bicep

00:51and tricep in your arm.

00:52They work against each other.

00:54If the biceps contracts, the triceps stretches, and the other way around, the biceps stretches

00:59when the triceps contracts.

01:01Which they say means the system becomes much more energy efficient and more nimble than

01:04traditional motor-driven robotics.

01:06This type of robot is also more adaptive to uneven terrain, letting it respond without

01:11the need for sensors to constantly apply corrections to its movement, with the team adding that

01:15this could one day be used for rescue operations in areas inhospitable for human rescuers.

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