WASHINGTON - Researchers at the Nanotech Institute at the University of Texas in Dallas have successfully developed artificial "super-strength” or "bionic" muscles that work on alcohol and hydrogen. The scientists have expressed hope that this development would eventually lead to the creation of better prosthetic limbs in terms of coordination. Researchers from South Korea also collaborated in this venture.
The best thing about these muscles is that they run on fuels rather than on batteries as previous models do. Reporting in the journal Science, the researchers stressed that these new fuel-powered muscles were 100 times more powerful than the body's own musculature. Researchers are currently working on two types of muscles, both of which release alcohol and hydrogen, while consuming oxygen. The research team was led by Von Howard Ebron, PhD, and Ray Baughman, PhD, from the UTD.
Though the new muscles cannot perform delicate and complex tasks like catching or throwing a ball, they can lift metal weight. Artificial muscles "are typically battery powered, which severely restricts the duration of their performance and can necessitate long inactivity during battery recharge," the researchers note in their article.
"Because of high electrical power needs, some of the most athletically capable robots cannot freely prance around because they are wired to a stationary power source." However the new models take care of these problems.
One model works on the principle of converting chemical energy to electric energy for movement, while the other mixes fuel and oxygen to create heat energy to power movement. Baughman said that the second type was the most efficient. "Students and scientists of all ages will be working on optimizing and deploying our artificial muscles," he forecast in a news release.
In an accompanying article in Science, John D. Madden, PhD. of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada writes that this particular creation could "transform the way complex mechanical systems were built."
This was possible since these muscles replicated natural ones in many ways. "The muscle consumes oxygen and fuel that can be transported via a circulation system; the muscle itself supports the chemical reaction that leads to mechanical work; electrochemical circuits can act as nerves, controlling actuation; some energy is stored locally in the muscle itself; and, like natural muscle, the materials studied contract linearly," he wrote.
