Artificial muscles will get even st

Artificial muscles will get even stronger

So the future exoskeleton will be easier to wear and available for other parts of the body. But it’ll also be stronger. A key factor that will drive exo evolution in the coming years is the material they’re made with. The robo-suits of the future could sport an interesting new ingredient that could give the wearer strength that equals 100 times what humans are capable of. That secret weapon: artificial muscles.

A team at the University of Texas, Dallas published a paper last year that found high-strength polymer fishing line and sewing thread can be twisted to form Herculean, manmade muscles. Here’s how it works: Coiled polymer fiber react to changes in temperature, contracting when heated and then loosening when cooled. Natural human muscles contract by about 20 percent, but these materials go as high as 50 percent—they contract further because of their twisted shape, giving the polymer muscles way more strength than a mere gym-going mortal.

These artificial muscles made of fishing wire would have the added benefit of being lightweight, not to mention cheap. “One of the problems right now with existing exoskeletons is that they’re powered pneumatically or hydraulically or by motors. They’re limited in their freedom,” Dr. Ray Baughman, leader of the study, says. “Motors are heavy. Hydraulic systems are heavy.”

Exoskeletons can make us super strong, super fast, and point to a world where tragic accidents or debilitating diseases don’t have the final say as to how our lives will unfold. But how can we grant humans these extra powers in a way that’s safe, economical, and realistic? That’s the question scientists are trying to answer now. What will likely guide the next few years’ of exo design is making them accessible and affordable enough for people to actually wear and use.

“A $100,000 exo is not really useful for any manager to buy for their workers,” Kazerooni says. “We can’t wait too long. There are too many people who need these technologies quickly. They needed it yesterday.”

Technology’s warp-speed development often makes real-life feel like scifi. And chances are, exos will be as commonplace as smartphones one day. We could see wearable robots at airports on the luggage handlers, or on the street, worn by athletes who have torn ACLs but who can walk normally. We could see them at supermarkets, factories, and shops worn by staff moving monster heaps of stock easier and faster than ever. We could even restore powers that if lost, were once gone for good. No more.

And, hopefully, we won’t need them for Gundam-like warfare. But they’ll still make us action heroes.