Engineers at Saarland University have taken a leaf out of nature’s book by equipping an artificial hand with muscles made from shape-memory wire.
The new technology enables the fabrication of flexible and lightweight robot hands for industrial applications and novel prosthetic devices. The muscle fibres are composed of bundles of ultrafine nickel-titanium alloy wires that are able to tense and flex. The material itself has sensory properties allowing the artificial hand to perform extremely precise movements. The research group led by Professor Stefan Seelecke will be showcasing their prototype artificial hand and how it makes use of shape-memory ‘metal muscles’ at HANNOVER MESSE – the world’s largest industrial fair – from April 13th to April 17th. The team, who will be exhibiting at the Saarland Research and Innovation Stand in Hall 2, Stand B 46, are looking for development partners.
The hand is the perfect tool. Developed over millions of years, its ‘design’ can certainly be said to be mature. The hand is extraordinarily mobile and adaptable, and the consummate interaction between the muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones and nerves has long driven a desire to create a flexible tool based upon it. The research team led by Professor Stefan Seelecke from Saarland University and the Center for Mechatronics and Automation Technology (ZeMA) is using a new technology based on the shape memory properties of nickel-titanium alloy. The engineers have provided the artificial hand with muscles that are made up from very fine wires whose diameter is similar to that of a human hair and that can contract and relax.
‘Shape-memory alloy (SMA) wires offer significant advantages over other techniques,’ says Stefan Seelecke. Up until now, artificial hands, such as those used in industrial production lines, have relied on a lot of complex background technology. As a result they are dependent on other devices and equipment, such as electric motors or pneumatics, they tend to be heavy, relatively inflexible, at times loud, and also expensive. ‘In contrast, tools fabricated with artificial muscles from SMA wire can do without additional equipment, making them light, flexible and highly adaptable. They operate silently and are relatively cheap to produce. And these wires have the highest energy density of all known drive mechanisms, which enables them to perform powerful movements in restricted spaces,’ explains Seelecke. The term ‘shape memory’ refers to the fact that the wire is able to ‘remember’ its shape and to return to that original predetermined shape after it has been deformed. ‘This property of nickel-titanium alloy is a result of phase changes that occur within the material. If the wire becomes warm, which happens, for instance, when it conducts electricity, the material transforms its lattice structure causing it to contract like a muscle,’ says Seelecke.
The engineers use ‘smart’ wires to play the role of muscles in the artificial hand. Multiple strands of shape-memory wire connect the finger joints and act as flexor muscles on the front-side of the finger and as extensor muscles on the rear. In order to facilitate rapid movements, the engineers copied the structure of natural human muscles by grouping the very fine wires into bundles to mimic muscle fibres. These bundles of wires are as fine as a thread of cotton, but have the tensile strength of a thick wire. ‘The bundle can rapidly contract and relax while exerting a high tensile force,’ explains Filomena Simone, an engineer who is working on the prototype of the artificial hand as part of her doctoral research. ‘The reason for this behaviour is the rapid cooling that is possible because lots of individual wires present a greater surface area through which heat can be dissipated. Unlike a single thick wire, a bundle of very fine wires can undergo rapid contractions and extensions equivalent to those observed in human muscles. As a result, we are able to achieve fast and smooth finger movements,’ she explains.
Read more: Artificial hand able to respond sensitively thanks to muscles made from smart metal wires
The Latest on: Artificial hand
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Artificial hand” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Artificial hand
- Here’s How Artificial Intelligence Is Going To Transform The Driver/Car Relationshipon April 29, 2024 at 6:39 am
Artificial intelligence is redefining how we interact with our cars. Let us take a look at how AI is going to transform the driver/car relationship.
- Meet Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the man behind the $2 trillion company powering today's artificial intelligenceon April 28, 2024 at 4:00 pm
We need artificial intelligence to help us explore the universe in ... We were amazed that Figure 01 is not just walking, but seemed to reason. Bill Whitaker: Hand me something healthy. Figure 01: On ...
- Artificial intelligence isn’t just for tech students. All classrooms are finding ways to wield — and educate about — the powerful toolon April 25, 2024 at 9:56 am
Kennelly, animated and enthusiastic, is on the cutting edge. A new RAND study shows that as of the fall of last year, just 18 percent of educators said they use AI for teaching. Most used it to adapt ...
- Gimme a Smile: Is it artificial intelligence or just automatic?on April 25, 2024 at 8:45 am
Artificial intelligence is writing our school essays (don ... If you don’t know what you’re dealing with, you might stand for hours, minutes even, waving your hand under a dispenser that is never, ...
- Local man recovering from hand amputation following hiking accidenton April 24, 2024 at 7:57 pm
A local man is on the road to recovery after losing his hand in a hiking accident.On March 16, Lemos was leading a hiking group in the Jacumba desert with the accident happened.
- Exo brings AI heart, lung apps to its hand-held ultrasound probeon April 24, 2024 at 6:10 am
The handheld ultrasound developer Exo has launched two new FDA-cleared artificial intelligence applications tied to its pocket-sized Iris probe, which made its own debut last fall. | The latest green ...
- Investing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks Can Be Risky, But 2 Spectacular AI ETFs Can Help Solve That Problemon April 24, 2024 at 2:28 am
Founded in 1993, The Motley Fool is a financial services company dedicated to making the world smarter, happier, and richer. The Motley Fool reaches millions of people every month through our premium ...
- Virtual-dimension increase of EMG signals for prosthetic hands gesture recognitionon April 16, 2024 at 5:01 pm
It can be transmitted as an input signal to an intelligent bionic prosthetic hand to control hand movements. By increasing the number of signal acquisition channels, richer information about the ...
- Artificial Intelligence Gives Security Teams the Upper Hand, "2024 Cyberthreat Defense Report" Findson April 16, 2024 at 5:22 am
CyberEdge Group's award-winning CDR is the standard for assessing organizations' security posture, gauging the perceptions of IT security professionals, and ascertaining current and planned ...
- Nvidia Is Not in a Bubble: You Should Be Buying This Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Hand Over Fist Before It Soarson April 14, 2024 at 11:17 am
Nvidia investors should look at the bigger picture, which indicates that the stock could continue rallying in the long run.
via Bing News