IPFS News Link • Inventions
IPFS News Link • Inventions
For roughly a thousandth the cost of his carbon nanotube muscles, Baughman and his team have constructed a fishing line muscle
capable of lifting objects 100 times heavier than natural muscle of the
same size. They're also more powerful, putting out the equivalent of
seven horsepower per kilogram, which is five times more powerful than
your car.
The secret of these crazy-strong muscles is a combination of coiling and heat. Think of a model airplane with a
rubber band-powered propeller. The more you twist that rubber band, the
more energy it has stored up inside it. By then heating the
already-coiled fishing line, Baughman's team was able to contract the
"muscle" further, powering the muscle without releasing all that
built-up tension. Just one fishing line, ten times the width of the hair
on your head, can tirelessly lift up to 16 pounds.
What's more,
by precisely controlling the heat acting upon the coils of fishing line,
researchers were able to reliably control the muscles. The wide variety
of fishing line strengths available could mean that, in the
not-so-distant future, artificial limbs and robots alike could have
tailor-made arms capable of superhuman feats of strength.