Scientists have developed a type of artificial muscle for soft robots that requires no rigid components and can be used in wearable devices, soft grippers and surgical tools. Artificial muscles that move soft robots, called actuators, tend to rely on hydraulics or pneumatics, which are slow to respond and difficult to store. The team fabricated the elastomers one on top of the other, creating a multilayer sandwich of elastomer, electrode, elastomer, electrode and so on. This type of actuator may be used in everything from wearable devices to soft grippers, laparoscopic surgical tools, entirely soft robots or artificial muscles in more complex robotics. "Until now, the electric fields required to power actuators in soft robots has been too high," said Mishu Duduta, a graduate student at SEAS.

Source: dna July 22, 2016 10:41 UTC