The racing simulator, robot arm and waterborne manta all make extensive use of Festo’s fluidic muscles, an alternative to pneumatic cylinders and other actuators. Consisting of an elastomer tube reinforced by aramid fibers, these actuators contract quickly and exert a pulling force when they're filled with a blast of compressed air or liquid. And much like their natural muscle counterparts, these bionic muscles experience a decay in force as they shorten.
But the initial force and speeds with which that force is reached can be significant. Elias Knubben of Festo’s Corporate Design Center reports that the company has developed muscles that can exert 6,000 N of force when filled to a pressure of 6 bar. They can respond quickly too—at frequencies up to 100 Hz. At more than 25 percent smaller than comparable pneumatic actuators, they also take up relatively little space.
Those characteristics came in handy in the impressive robotic hand and arm that Festo developed for the show. Called Airic’s Arm, it features 32 fluidic muscles and laser-sintered artificial bones that approximate the structures of a human arm—well, sort of, given that human arms and hands have more than 60 muscles. But Airic’s Arm still offers pretty much the same range of movement as a human arm and hand, according to Knubben. “It has the same degrees of freedom as a human arm,” he says, adding that it's capable of handling a 3-kg load while full extended.
Festo runs the arm's fluidic muscles with a compact collection of 72 proportional valves along with related pressure sensors and power electronics. The entire assembly weighs just 6.4 kg.
With this and the rocket powered steampunk arm, we are really starting to live in Sci-Fi.
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