US researchers have crafted a new cheap new material that will let the machines carry out smoother, less rigid, and more human-like movements. Artificial muscles inspired by the Japanese folding technique of origami could give robots the power to lift up to 1,000 times their own weight.
The breakthrough was made by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The muscles, known as actuators, are built on a framework of metal coils or plastic sheets, and each muscle costs around $1 (75p) to make.
Their origami inspiration derives from a zig-zag structure that some of the muscles use, allowing them to contract and expand as commanded, using vacuum-powered air or water pressure.
The skeleton can be a spring, an origami-like folded structure, or any solid structure with hinged or elastic voids and the structural geometry determines the muscle’s motion.
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