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Japanese Team Breathes Life into Robotic Arm Whose Muscles Are Driven by Compressed Air
Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 2:50 AM on December 18, 2007
Japanese researchers have developed a new approach to robotics that could revolutionise the future of artificial limbs. The team, from Okinawa University, has come up with an amazing "muscle" design that is driven by compressed air and is simpler than the designs of many other prosthetic arms currently in development. More info, plus a video of the "muscles" in action after the jump.
By pumping air in and out of a mesh and rubber construction, the Okinawa "muscle" mimics the contracting motion of real muscles with their fine degree of control and power variation. The compressed air solution clearly offers more strength than is available in its flesh-and-bone equivalent, and placing the muscles in an artificial arm or hand that mimics the struture of a real one will enable the user to move more realistically than a conventional prosthetic arm allows—the motion of the hand unscrewing the light bulb in the video is just amazingly natural.
Currently at the prototype stage, the designs are more like robotic limbs than prosthetic ones, but there is potential to use the technology to help amputees in the future. The design is scaleable, too - an 8m muscle could create some fearsome mechanical arms on a JCB, or a remarkably dextrous factory robot.
Many prosthetics currently on offer can seem clunky, but this compressed-air muscle looks like a great idea. It seems more logical to use Nature's design rather than complex pistons or motors with gear-trains. Fingers crossed that they get incorporated into prosthetic aids as soon as possible. [TechEBlog]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
starm_
Posted 1:23 PM 17/12/07
There is another company with similar technology:
[www.festo.com]
[www.festo.com]
starm_
Michai
Posted 12:57 PM 17/12/07
Apply this tech to this previous post:
[gizmodo.com]
= robocop
Michai
jarobi
Posted 12:51 PM 17/12/07
Just wait until i turn these into Jax arms. Its gonna be flawless victories all over the place...
jarobi
J. Shirley
Posted 12:33 PM 17/12/07
Awesome to see this technology getting usable. Back in 97 I saw a demonstration of this at Ames Research Center in Mtn. View California. It was a simple leg that was mounted to a fixed plate and would take steps and jump.
Still pretty impressive at the time, and now even better.
Tried to find some links to that project, but like most things at NASA it is buried amongst pure text press releases and no fancy YouTube videos... pity :(
J. Shirley
dingus
Posted 11:53 AM 17/12/07
Would've been better if they used the Utah Teapot.
dingus
RedBeard
Posted 11:13 AM 17/12/07
@RedBeard:
[uk.gizmodo.com]
RedBeard
RedBeard
Posted 11:12 AM 17/12/07
the mass of muscles in the forearm looks strikingly similar to the design of the robot arms/legs in IRobot
RedBeard
kittenman
Posted 10:57 AM 17/12/07
god.. the gundums are coming!
kittenman
GottaGo
Posted 6:28 PM 17/12/07
I think festo.com's arms and muscles are even more refined than this version. Festo doesn't have extraneous tubes sticking out everywhere - they're all built into the arm. Still, such a cool idea. Hope it further develops into actual products reasonably soon.
GottaGo
swartz
Posted 9:07 AM 18/12/07
over at instructables.net there is a how to how t make a mussle like that.
swartz
uchiuchi
Posted 1:10 PM 19/12/07
"Okayama University", not "Okinawa University"
uchiuchi
Z-Knight
Posted 2:55 PM 17/12/07
(sorry if this is a double post...first time posting and previous post did not appear)
Japanese researches have developed squat...the "muscles" they use were developed by in the 1950's by J.L. McKibben...they are known as "McKibben Air Muscles".
Here is a company that sells them:
[www.imagesco.com]
Here is a project that used them to make a robot called "Stiffy":
[zaczek.com]
So, sorry Mr.Author, but this not some "new approach to robotics" because it has been used for decades.
Z-Knight
Z-Knight
Posted 2:54 PM 17/12/07
Japanese researches have developed squat...the "muscles" they use were developed by in the 1950's by J.L. McKibben...they are known as "McKibben Air Muscles".
Here is a company that sells them:
[www.imagesco.com]
Here is a project that used them to make a robot called "Stiffy":
[zaczek.com]
So, sorry Mr.Author, but this not some "new approach to robotics" because it has been used for decades.
Z-Knight
caliyalie
Posted 12:09 PM 17/12/07
Chinese handcuffs, anyone?
caliyalie
JackNapier
Posted 11:32 AM 17/12/07
Not to be "That's old news" guy, but pneumatic muscles for robotics is _not_ new.
[brl.ee.washington.edu]
JackNapier