One of the biggest problems with creating robots or exoskeletons is that the motors that power movement are bulky and heavy.
What these systems are really trying to replicate is human muscles, only much stronger and more efficient muscles.
About a year ago University of Texas at Dallas materials scientist Ray Baughman and some colleagues were working with carbon nanotube wires — tiny, exotic strings that are very strong, have unique electrical properties and are also expensive to make. They were twisting these nanotubes to see what happened.
Then they began wondering whether twisting more commonplace materials would have similar, interesting properties. It turns out that high-strength polymer fibers, like those in common fishing line or certain sewing threads, did.
By twisting the fishing line to the point that it turns into a coil, the scientists effectively created “muscles” that can contract and lift loads 100 times heavier than human muscles of the same length and weight. The results are reported in the journal Science today.
“It was just a guess, and the result was incredibly surprising,” Baughman told me. “The idea of being able to take something so cheap, you can buy fishing line for about $5 a kilogram, there’s just no barrier for entry into this.”
These artificial muscles can be contracted or extended simply by heating or cooling them (or other means, as well).
So what are some applications for this advance? Robots. Prosthetics. Exoskeletons (yes, as you might imagine, the military is interested). Things as simple as a means of opening greenhouse windows.
When I asked Baughman the standard question about this advance, where we might see this technology deployed in five or 10 years time, he laughed at me.
“No, two years!” he told me. “Usually with a technical advance it takes 20 years. But here there’s no barrier to making these muscles.”
In fact, as you can see in the video below, it’s something you could do in your garage.
The great thing about these materials is that they’re already well tested. Fishing line and sewing materials are non-toxic, unlike so many nanomaterials normally employed in these kinds of technologies. As Baughman told me, “Babies rear ends sit naked on nylon carpets.”