Robots increasingly looking to become more humanlike, with various designs of androids created to interact with customers in a store or as guides in a museum. However, remain within a set of mechanical parts controlled electronically.
However, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign seek to create a biological structure that emulates the behavior of animals and humans muscles. Still in an incipient stage, the design of this small prototype, only one centimeter in length, it is inspired by the joint operation between a tendon and a bone.
Thus, the researchers got this artificial muscle, consisting of a gel and living cells react to electrical impulses that could advance this biological robot. “These systems could be implemented in the next generation of biorobots for supplying medicines, surgical equipment and intelligent implants, among other applications”, said Caroline Cvetkovic, one of the authors of the research.
Also with electrical impulses, but with an artificial structure that emulates the functioning of muscles, founder of the Segway company, DEKA, managed to launch commercial forms a bionic arm that can be controlled by electrodes.