In an effort to create a machine without any "hard bits," Iain Anderson of Auckland Bioengineering Institute in New Zealand, has started work on a "soft technology" motor. Some of Anderson's students were working in secret on an artificial muscle. Anderson explains, "They were working on this quietly amongst themselves. When they got it running they showed me. This had a rigid central orbiting bearing that was pushed side to side by one membrane and up and down by another... So we could get the gear to orbit by combining motion from both membranes and when the orbiting gear supported by the membranes came into contact with a gear on the shaft, the shaft rotated."
Anderson took the concept even further by making the gear also flexible. A polymer material is stretched to a thin membrane and coated with conductive carbon grease. Another piece of the same material is placed in the center acting as the gear. When a high-voltage is applied to the membrane a opposing positive and negative charge is generated in the electrodes. These charges attract and contract the shape of the surface.
As conduction begins, the large membrane changes shape as starts moving the central gear. This is unlike any other artificial muscle motor system, every component is soft. Anderson stated that the main benefits of a completely soft machine is its light weight and reduced likelihood of a component breaking. He continues about further possibilities, "living things are mostly soft. If we want them to interface with living things, it makes sense to have them soft.”
The next step for Anderson and his team is to get the membrane system to react to heavier load similar to how living muscles adjust to the same stimuli.
Eavesdropper
Pictures and video via Auckland Bioengineering Institute