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Nanotech Research Works Toward Artificial Muscles
An anonymous reader writes "Nanotech researchers are developing artificial muscles that convert chemical energy to mechanical energy. This ambitious project aims at making an artificial muscles from conducting polymers and carbon nanotubes that are chemically powered, like natural muscles, and exceed the force generation, contraction and speed of their natural counterpart. This work will lead to advanced limbs for amputees and robots."
Strong muscles without the need to exercise. Sounds like a geek's dream come true huh? Except that one must keep in mind certain dangly appendages that could be torn off if you aren't careful with those new bulging biceps. And what about joints, could they handle the extra stress of markedly increased muscle strength? Like you go to pick up your car and your arms pop out of their sockets. Ouch.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Myomer. It must be called Myomer.
I really do hope that this is turns into a viable solution for amputees. Combining this with the recent advances in nerve and motor control research should produce some very interesting products. I'm thinking a specialized appendage for using the mouse whilest I type. Then again, a USB port into the brain would be easier.
Jerry
http://www.syslog.org/
"This work will lead to advanced limbs for amputees and robots." But not necessarily in that order..
Yes, I'm odd. This is the first thing that came to my mind. What if someone wanted to add a limb? I'm pretty sure it could be possible. We could construct a framework of artificial bone, build the artificial muscles and tendons, implant artificial nerves, and (much like when a person gets a limb transplant) graft it into the nervous system.
I'm no expert in this field - I'm merely speculating. Feel free to totally bash my idea. Is this even possible, though?
I am scientifically inaccurate.
Scientists have been researching artificial muscles for decades now. The need for linear actuators with fast response times, almost friction-free force-less movements and power varying as a function of their lengths, is great.
The best they could come up with for powerful movements is this pneumatic device, which is a braided sleeve with a rubber balloon inside: when the balloone expands, it pulls the fibers in the braided sleeve apart, and therefore the overall length of the device shrinks and the device fattens. When the pressure is let off, the device becomes long and thin.
Cuz he doesn't like em' bots...
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So when can I retro-fit my Robosapien with these?
Well, I used to play with Flexinol, which is a memory alloy. Not really the same technology, but it was fun playing with this stuff.
We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first Bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better . . . stronger . . . faster.
Clones are people two.
Now the zillionaires don't have to take steroids to cheat! And they can afford to be early-adopters of muscle upgrade procedures!
This sig is my best one.
I don't want to amputate before I get an extra couple pairs of arms - Doc "Oc" Ruby.
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make install -not war
those muscle heads when they start pumping iron and they hit an Insufficient Memory error?
My truck is currently on jackstands.
The four of them combined have less surface area contacting my driveway than one of my Euro sized 45 shoes.
Few issues which still need to be resolved:
(a) How to place and grow nanotubes precisely ? Even after 14 years we struggle with that.
(b) How does carbon nanotube interacts with biology in human body ? What are the side effects ?
(c) Need to find an easy way of making conducting vs semiconducting nanotubes.
(d) Fuel cell efficiency. They have only said that they can convert the chemical energy to mechanical energy, but how well ?
(e) Ethical issue: This may not be a big deal if that person with artificial limbs can generate 100 times more force with no effort and break anyone's neck. But I am sure once we start augmenting human brain with more computational power (may be carbon nanotubes are faster than neurons, use them !!), then we may have to rethink !!
It seems these guys haven't heard of the way you convert force to distance and vis versa.
It's called the "leverage" and its used in everything from simple levers to pully systems.
Seastead this.
Maybe you could use your artificial limb to masturbate and no one would know you're doing it because both hands were above the table! Hmmm. I suppose I'm a bit odd too.
Bush was a load Barbara should've swallowed.
The real driving force behind this research is the desire for a nano-enabled soldier of the future. They hope to use these as exo-muscles in combat suits to allow soldiers to literally "leap tall buildings in a single bound."
The MIT Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies is working on this right now, but they don't see it being available for use for 30 years or so. I recently attended a lecture at MIT entitled "Nanotechnology: From Promise to Profitablility" that was almost entirely focused on military applications.
Amputees will certainly benefit, but that's not why the money is there for this research...
Plus, this stuff is just the thing for helping me bury the hatchet in the cockpit of an annoying Jenner.
I've been working with technology similar to this for the past year at University of Washington. I think a lot of people are overlooking some of the most important benefits of this type of actuator. Robustness is a very critical aspect of any mechanical device. With current hydraulics and pneumatics, a small dent or bend will render the entire device unusable. With an artificial muscle, half the device could be ripped off and it could still function with a limited capacity.
Imagine a hydraulic actuator on a modern plane for instance. It would be nice to be able to still be able to control the aircraft's ailerons, flaps, rudder, and elevator even if significant damage occured to mechanical components.
That's one of the biggest differences between man and man-made machines. People can be injured and keep going (watch any Arnold movie). A machine, on the other hand, is pretty much all or nothing (except in Arnold movies).
-- sometimes AND gates turn me on.
Will also lead to people upgrading their muscles on the black market to me - our dystopian cyberpunk future just got one step close
Wooooo!!!
My Portfolio
No comments about modding your Real Doll (or robot girlfriend, etc.)? Get with it, people!
Can't let those super-soldiers go astray with their consciences, can you?
Once again, this is another example of our medical-industrial complex trotting out a non-biological approach to solving a problem that a biological approach is better.
Having bionic arms using nanotubes and nanotech-based muscle is fine. Figuring out how regeneration such that the body can be made to grow new arms is better.
Has anybody read the Space Odyssey series? I don't remember which book it's in, but Arthur Clarke once talks about the history of the creators of the black boxes. They were a normal civilization that became extremely advanced and eventually built large ships that could take them all over the universe. But they could also incorporate the mechanics and electronics into themselves, and incorporate (from the latin "corpus, corporis, n." meaning body: particularly effective in this sense!) themselves into their machines until eventually, they were their own machines, constantly improving upon themselves. It goes on to explain that they were able to transcend matter entirely and exist in a way we cannot quite comprehend.
Also, in the book 3001, Clarke predicts braincap machines that add the abilities of a computer to whoever wears them.
I for one welcome the new experience of becoming the overlords of the universe. How long until we can transcend matter and build conscienceness-inspiring black boxes?
Esoteric reference.
Check out these folks, who put together a prehensile robotic tail. The apparatus registers EMG signals from skin electrodes and uses them to control the tail.
I for one welcome our new paraplegic overlords.
sig not found. please replace sig.
I'm sure this can be twisted to somehow upset v|agr@ as the top spam subject.
My best sig is this one.
For some reason when I read that I imagined the sound of Timpani drums, an experimental aircraft dropping from a B-52 and then a crash in the desert. After that a catchy salsa beat and a red and white track suit.
Can this be far off? The applications for Sci-Fi writing are enormous. 1st: This is motivated for military application (and thereby for the service of the "elite") 2nd: Does anyone think that your company insurance plan will be covering body transplants in the near future? 3rd: Who would be allowed access to quality parts? p.s. Here is the UTD press release: http://www.utdallas.edu/news/archive/2005/darpa-gr ant.html
"Something unknown is doing we don't know what." - Sir Arthur Eddington
I guess this means that I'm going to have to find a nice lumber mill to work in, preferably one with a really good health plan. Actually, I should probably wait until they figure out adamantium.
[insert witty quote here]
Is this a follow up of the blood made of nano-tubes thing that came out a few months ago?!
Tomorrow, Motoko Kusanagi :-D
A sig is just a sig, unless you can shoot it. Sig Steyr, for the distinguishing CT.
you freebirth toads could be in a position to battle the clans with omnimechs!
Wit deese new muscula implaants, I can beat you een de next election and den go on to rule de wood. muhahahahahaha
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Wouldn't this release a lot of nanostuff into the air or the waterflow?
Couldn't this be extremely poisonous to biological life and be very hard to remove from the environment, since nanostuff would not decay? What if this breakage happens in a industrial facility? Would we get the nasty effects of a chemical contamination (like Union Carbide's Bhopal mess-up) with the transmissible and hard-to-decay characteristics of a, say, mad-cows's prions?
I have heard of some work that was done with this for upper body prostheses, but it was not load bearing, so there's still a lot of work to do.
Of course you also need to educate insurance companies about the value of a good prostheses. I find it amazing that there are insurance programs out there that will provide full coverate for all sorts of horrible life threatening diseases, even if there is little chance of recovery, but will not cover prosthetics and orthotics.
cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.
You are absolutely disrepectful and should be banded from posting.
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