Researchers from Zurich have improved artificial muscles for robots. They require a lower electrical voltage than previous models, as the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) wrote in a statement on Tuesday. According to the university, this makes them easy to attack and waterproof.
In principle, artificial muscles work like natural muscles: they contract when there is an electrical impulse. Unlike their natural counterpart, the artificial muscles do not consist of cells and fibers, but of a sac filled with oil.
There are electrodes on the bag that create opposite charges when a high voltage is applied. Then squeeze the oil into an electrode-free part of the bag. This causes the sac to contract like a biological muscle.
According to ETH Zurich, previous models required a voltage of six to ten thousand volts. For comparison: electricity with a voltage of 230 volts comes from Swiss sockets. To achieve this tension, the former artificial muscles had to be connected to large, heavy tension amplifiers, as ETH Zurich wrote. They also did not work in water and were not completely safe for humans.
Roboter, Prosthetics, Wearables
The artificial muscle presented by ETH researchers in the journal ‘Science Advances’ is powered by a small, battery-powered 900-volt power supply. The battery and power supply together weigh only 15 grams. The researchers see possible applications in new types of robots, prostheses or so-called wearables, i.e. technologies that are worn on the body.
The artificial muscle owes its improved capabilities to a new shell structure. Unlike previous artificial muscles, the electrodes in the newly developed muscles are not located on the outside of the shell, the ETH explains. Instead, the shell consists of several layers. The researchers also used a material that can store a relatively large amount of electrical energy.
Source: Krone
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