Muscles for robots

-- artificial muscles that give space robots animal-like flexibility and manipulation ability will be tested on a small nasa rover destined to explore an asteroid. The artificial muscles were developed by Yoseph Bar-Cohen and his team at nasa 's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, usa. The muscles are based on a simple, lightweight strip of a highly-flexible plastic that bends and functions like human fingers when electric voltage is applied to them.

According to a nasa release, Bar-Cohen and his team is working to turn these strips into grippers and strings, which can grab and lift loads, among many other potential uses. These strips and strings known as electroactive polymers ( eap s), have the potential of simplifying robotic spacecraft tasks. The technology could lead to the development of insect-like robots that emulate biological creatures.