There Are Now Artificial Muscles That Work Just Like Real Ones

It is not difficult to imagine how useful artificial muscles could be for the medical industry. Having something that can act and work just like the real muscles we are born with can open nearly limitless medical opportunities for exploration.

And for the first time, the scientists from Linköping University in Sweden have successfully created a type of artificial muscles that operate pretty much like the real ones: with glucose and oxygen.

Great Implications

Needless to say, it is groundbreaking news in the medical world at the moment, particularly in prosthetics, where it could be best used.

To create the muscle, researchers made use of a unique type of polymer, a material with a bonded molecular structure. Its creation suggests how implantation of artificial muscles into patients and even as far as micro-robots made up of human organs in the future a likely reality.

The field of prosthetics, or the creation of artificial limbs, has significantly advanced in the past few decades following the rapid development of bio and medical technology. But this one, so far, seems to be the most significant game-changer.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves before we can understand its benefits, we should learn about the manufacturing process and its operation.

Creation

According to Edwin Jager, the leading researcher of the team responsible for the discovery from Linköping University’s Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, the team utilized a polymer called polypyrrole to create what they termed: “polymer actuator.”

Polypyrrole is the product you get when you polymerize pyrrole. The thing about polypyrrole is that it is a very effective electrical conductor and its volume can be changed at will as long as you apply the correct electrical current to it.

Fuelled Either By Electricity Or Oxygen/Glucose

The ‘muscle’ is then created by creating a 'sandwich' composed of two polymer layers with a thin separating membrane in the middle. When an electrical current is applied to one side of the sheet, the polymer expels ions through the membrane and the entire sheet shrinks as a result.

This electrical charge can be generated either by a standard battery. Or most importantly, a combination of oxygen and glucose if the polymer is treated with a layer of enzymes. This will mean that the artificial muscles can work in pretty much the same way as the muscles we are born with do.

The only thing left is devising a way we can actually control these muscles to execute movements. And whether or not their motions can be repeated in regular cycles similar to our muscles.