Flexible robot hand with precise grip lifts 1000 times its own weight

Tiny actuators – devices that convert energy and signals into movement – that operate as artificial muscles could lift up to 1000 times their own weight, according to research that may one day lead to robots with human-like grips. Corrado De Pascali and his colleagues at the Italian Institute of Technology have developed 3D-printed artificial muscles, created from actuators that convert energy into movement by inflating the artificial muscles. "We started from the traditional artificial muscle and developed a new class of artificial muscles made of a single monolithic component," says De Pascali. The actuator membranes, called GeometRy-based Actuators that Contract and Elongate (GRACE), are 3D printed from a flexible resin that enables them to stretch and contract like a human muscle. The membrane was designed using a mathematical model created by the researchers.