Posted on 11/23/2016 8:10:12 AM PST by BenLurkin
MIT has a new nylon-based artificial muscle-like filament created by researchers that could eventually provide the basis for robots with bulging biceps. The filaments themselves look eerily similar to the ones extruded by the 3D printers used in the opening sequence of HBO’s Westworld, which is why Gizmodo and others are seeing parallels between potential applications of the tech and Westworld‘s lifelike hosts.
MIT’s new solution isn’t the first artificial muscle technology developed, but it is simple and low cost, unlike existing offerings. The researchers developing the tech found that specific types of nylon fiber can reproduce some of the bending and stretching actions of muscles when heated. That’s because they shrink in length but expand in diameter, just like our own muscle fibers do, when heat is applied selectively to one side of the material.
Heating specific areas in sequence made it possible for researchers to create more complex and specific movement patterns, like circles and figure eights. The heat source can be pretty much anything, including electrical resistance, chemical reactions or laser light shined on parts of the filament, allowing for use in a wide range of settings and scales.
(Excerpt) Read more at techcrunch.com ...
But seriously, this could be very exciting for prosthetics, if they can get some sort of neural feedback mechanism created and incorporated in the works.
You just wanted an excuse to show Scarlett Johansson practically naked.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that...
Stop Culturally appropriating!!
(Unless the originals are white, you know like Aaron Burr, and then we can call it diversity)
Yep!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.