Playing Nature's Game with Artificial Muscles

by Ray H. Baughman Science, 1 Apr 2005 Artificial muscles able to match or exceed the remarkable performance of natural muscles are needed for artificial and damaged hearts, artificial limbs, humanoid robots, and bird- or insect-like air vehicles that fly by flapping wings. In his Perspective, Baughman compares the performance of present high-stroke artificial muscles with that of natural muscles and proposes new strategies for improving the artificial muscles. One promising approach is to make an artificial muscle that directly converts the chemical energy in a fuel to mechanical energy. Read the article