In the future we envision artificial muscle driving our
cybernetic soldiers and helping to
repair our fleshier ones. In the present, though, it seems the tech is starting a little smaller, at least it is in the case of Artificial Muscle (the company), which has developed tech enabling a silicon film to expand or contract when a voltage is applied to it. It's currently being used to create small pumps and linear actuators and the like, and is now is being pitched as a solution for feedback in touch-sensitive devices. The silicon film is thin enough to be inserted beneath a touchpad or touchscreen, moving the surface appropriately depending on what you're stroking on-screen as shown in a video demonstration below. Impressively this tech will only cost "a couple dollars" to add to any given device, meaning even cheap netbooks could start coming with fidgity touchpads soon. Now
that is progress.
posted Apr 24th 2009 8:44AM
I never understood how these "cybernetic soldiers" are supposed to be able to tread water without shorting all that electric equipment.
Those "Artificial Muscle" guys look like they party hard... Or are members of a fight club... Nice boo boo
Saran Wrap.
kind of creepy if you ask me... Perhaps the question is where do i get one articificial muscle? would it cost me a leg and arm?
Would it matter?
You could have that arm and leg replaced with the artificial muscle.
@You could have that arm and leg replaced with the artificial muscle
Why? Its understandable if the muscle is damaged/irrepairable. But if its healthy, why replace it with artificial one?
Oh and why not just use cloned human muscles? Grown muscles? Grown flesh?
Kind of sucks when some religious superstitions limit evolution possibilities...
@Shinigami
Grow up. I didn't realize they passed a law that said only people who don't believe in "superstitious religion" are allowed to voice their opinions. When did that happen? Anyway, superstition and religion are two different things.
@Bob
Why look for more rare, scarce and expensive in both developing and production alternatives for existing solutions?
And no, I don't want any answer. I want people to be aware they're being ripped off every day they live. The "governments" have even decided who owns this planet, water, soil, even AIR is now being sold (my country, Ukraine, sells its air quota to Japan).
You OK with that?
Answer to yourself, not me.
artificial muscle technology has been around for close to 10 years. Most designs consist of a man made fiber (think 2x your hairs width) that contracts up to 20% when a small amount of voltage is applied. the fibers strength (stress point before ripping) is close to 100 times that of human muscle.
you want to get some? its available:
http://tinyurl.com/dab593
My question is, Who punched this guy in the face? Because that ain't no shaving cut.
I think it's a zit, but I can see the appeal of punching him in the face.
That's from a test of the human implanted digital muscle. It's also a cautionary tale, entitled "Why not to finish the last donut in the conference room when Tom, the Artificial Muscle guinea pig is around."
I think he was testing one of the artificial muscles on his face and he pressed the shotgun button.
Haptic display keyboard? Yes, please put this in everything. Man, couple this with folding OLED screens and we'll be seeing some awesome gear. Advances in graphene and battery tech and smart cooling cannot come soon enough. If only!
Cannot come. Cut the rest :)
Haha, that would be sweet. An OLED TV that folds up into a box. Press a button on the remote and the screen opens itself with artificial muscles.
This. Covering my Razer Deathadder/Mamba please.
This could be what we need to save the Pleo!
I mean, provided you want a miniature harbringer of death to appear more terrifying than it already is.
"...depending on what you're stroking on-screen..."? Interesting choice of words.
I want to know how much "research" this guy did with a pulsating artificial muscle before he decided it was a sound business decision.....
Might be cute in mousebuttons too, then you only need a few or 1 actuator and yet can do the screen full of effects both on desktop or in games, perhaps with the philips ambi-thingy driver (since less and less games use the old forcefeedback code).
Not sure why people dismiss the good ol mouse, even laptop users buy them.
Imagine how the Japanese will implement this.
Probably poorly and at 5FPS.
I'm just saying.
they can put a lot of that artificial muscles on a glove or things like that...
wooow virtual sex toys!
A silicon that vibrates when you add a charge to it! My god this will change then life of ever man for ever! I can see tons of new products. I want one.
I hope the "cybernetic soldiers" can tell the difference between a machine gun and the -shot- gun icon, mole face was pointing to.
Really... "Machine Gun"? Don't most of us stop calling it that when we turn 7 and a half.
Sorry, low blood sugar grouchiness... I need to feed..
neat