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MIT's artificial muscles for soft robots flex like a human iris | This artificial, muscle-powered structure pulls both concentrically and radially, similar to how the iris in the human eye acts to dilate and constrict the pupil


Engineers at MIT have devised an ingenious new way to produce artificial muscles for soft robots that can flex in more than one direction, similar to the complex muscles in the human body.

Next, they pressed the stamp into a hydrogel – a synthetic equivalent of biological tissue that provided a flexible, water-containing matrix for real cells. Earlier this year, we saw Cornell University researchers come up with 'robot blood' – a Redox Flow Battery system that can be embedded in robots without the need for rigid structures. Between these two innovations, we're inching closer to creating robots that can squeeze into tight spots and investigate leaky undersea pipes, or conduct challenging search-and-rescue operations.

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