The Locomotion of Future Robots Could Be Powered by This Artificial Muscle.mp4

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, one currently in development by engineers

00:08at ETH Zurich and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligence Systems. However, it's not using

00:14actuators, cogs, or other conventional robotics to move, but rather artificial muscles. The

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

00:23electrodes on either side. Here's one of the researchers, Thomas Buckner, to explain.

00:28And now, when we activate these muscles, the so-called electrohydraulic actuator sips 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. If the biceps contracts, the tricep stretches, and the other

00:57way around the bicep stretches when the triceps contract.

01:00Which they say means the system becomes much more energy efficient and more nimble than

01:04traditional motor-driven robotics. This type of robot is also more adaptive to uneven terrain,

01:10letting it respond without the need for sensors to constantly apply corrections to its movement,

01:14with the team adding that this could one day be used for rescue operations in areas inhospitable

01:19for human rescuers.

01:20For human rescuers.

01:21For human rescuers.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended