Springy Nanotubes Could Make Artificial Muscles

moon_monkey writes "Scientists have discovered that carbon nanotubes have remarkable springy properties, which could make them ideal for use in artificial muscles. Currently, electroactive polymers are most commonly used to make artificial muscles, but these lack mechanical robustness. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute tested the nanotubes by repeatedly squashing them between metal plates. The work is reported in Nature Nanotechnology."

Re:Great shake!

[packeteer]

Drinking nanotubes is funny but pretty dangerous. They are so small they can pass through cell membranes and through the blood-brain barrier with the greatest of ease. They end up causing damage as they float through everything in your body. Ill stick with Flax Seed oil as my final 5% of my shake.

Re:Grow muscle?

[Anonymous Coward]

There are a few reasons. One is the fact that American researchers still have a hard time doing proper stem cell work, so creating new organs is not such a great line of study. Another is potential rejection of foreign tissue.

A third is the fact that the people working on this are not in the field of direct tissue engineering (yeah, I am at RPI typing this, I am down the hall from a bunch of the people who wrote the paper). They are mostly Materials Engineers, they are working within their area of study.

Actually, I think I saw them running the test... Not quite as exciting in person, you need some imagination to turn their research into artificial muscles. That being said, it does have some nice properties that I can see aiding in such an endeavor.

Re:Grow muscle?

[aadvancedGIR]

Yes, using artificial muscle as actual muscular replacement might be a reality in a couple decades, but last time I heard of that, it was inpratictable at large scale (they made a full working atropomorphic arm and hand with electroactive polymers muscles, but it was way heavier than a flesh and bone arm and required a permanent electric power supply.

On the other hand, heart pumps already exist since a long time and usually use a plain simple electric engine with batteries.

What I understand from TFA is that this new technology allows to build mecanical devices that could move differently from pneumatic, hydraulic or electric actuator and therefore, provide an alternative to some specific sets of problems in robotic motion. It might be a base of future cyberpunk-like body reconstruction or enhancement, but it is too early to tell.

One of many artificial muscle materials

[200_success]

Carbon nanotubes are one of many materials that can be made into artificial muscles. This has been known for a few years. For a comparison of technologies, see actuatorweb.org [actuatorweb.org].