Wolverine Superhero Inspires Self-Healing Material for Robot Muscles

Along with an entire generation of comic book fans, Chao Wang grew up following the exploits of Wolverine, a.k.a Now an assistant professor of chemistry at University of Califormia, Riverside, Wang recently paid tribute to his childhood hero, in a chemical engineering sort of way. Wang and a group of collaborators have developed a transparent and stretchable material that could give future robots the ability to heal rapidly, similar to Wolverine's handy superpower. According to the research team, the space-age material could power artificial muscles that mend themselves after injury or normal wear-and-tear. Researchers say that the artificial skin represents the first time scientists have created an ionic conductor that's stretchable, transparent and able to heal itself.