An international team led by researchers at the University of Waterloo has developed material that can be flexible “artificial muscles” to replace rigid motors and pumps in robots and allow them to move more naturally and fluidly.
Soft robots differ from hard robots in that they are pliable and flexible, making them safe for interaction with people, but the materials currently used for components enabling their movement aren’t strong enough to be effective.
The Waterloo-led research group found a way to dramatically strengthen smart, rubber-like materials by mixing liquid crystals (LCs) – commonly found in displays for electronics and sensors – into promising building blocks for soft robots known as liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs). [Read more…] about University of Waterloo-led researchers develop ‘artificial muscles’ for robots