This artificial muscle can lift up to 1,000 times its own weight

RESEARCHERS from Columbia Engineering have created artificial muscles that may soon allow the creation of robots that can mimic natural human biological systems. Thanks once again to 3D-printing technology, researchers were able to create artificial active tissues with intrinsic expansion capability. The material is said to be extremely low cost at just three cents per gram, is environment friendly, and has an expansion density that is 15 times larger than that of natural tissue. Amazingly, it can also lift up to a thousand times its weight.

Compared to other artificial muscles that expand when air or water is supplied, requiring hydraulic or pneumatic inflation, the team’s creation expands via electric actuation using a thin resistive wire that emits 8 volts of electricity. The team’s creation takes humans a step closer to creating soft, lifelike robots, but it is still just a step closer. “We’ve been making great strides towards making robots minds, but robot bodies are still primitive,” said Hod Lipson, co-creator of the artificial muscle.

Still, researchers believe that the importance of creating soft, lifelike robots could lead to implications in the fields of healthcare, manufacturing and other areas that would require interacting with humans because of their capability to replicate natural movement. As it stands, researchers are looking into developing their creation and possibly incorporating artificial intelligence to control the muscle.