{"id":25194,"date":"2018-06-29T22:50:21","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T22:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kurzweilai.net\/?p=318171"},"modified":"2018-06-29T23:28:18","modified_gmt":"2018-06-29T23:28:18","slug":"new-material-eliminates-need-for-motors-or-actuators-in-future-robots-other-devices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/2018\/06\/29\/new-material-eliminates-need-for-motors-or-actuators-in-future-robots-other-devices\/","title":{"rendered":"New material eliminates need for motors or actuators in future robots, other devices"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_318173\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 338px;  border: 1px solid #dddddd; background-color: #f3f3f3; padding-top: 4px; margin: 10px; text-align:center; display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kurzweilai.net\/new-material-eliminates-need-for-motors-or-actuators-in-future-robots-other-devices\/mini-arm\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-318173\"><img class=\" wp-image-318173\" title=\"mini arm\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kurzweilai.net\/images\/mini-arm.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"328\" height=\"255\" \/><\/a><p style=' padding: 0 4px 5px; margin: 0;'  class=\"wp-caption-text\">A \u201cmini arm\u201d made up of two hinges of actuating nickel hydroxide-oxyhydroxide material (left) can lift an object 50 times its own weight when triggered (right) by light or electricity. (credit: University of Hong Kong)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>University of Hong Kong researchers have invented a radical new lightweight material that could replace traditional bulky, heavy motors or actuators in robots, medical devices, prosthetic muscles, exoskeletons, microrobots, and other types of devices.<\/p>\n<p>The new actuating material &#8212; nickel hydroxide-oxyhydroxide &#8212; can be instantly triggered and wirelessly powered by low-intensity visible light or electricity at relatively low intensity. It can exert a force of up to 3000 times its own weight &#8212; producing stress and speed comparable to mammalian skeletal muscles, according to the researchers.<\/p>\n<p>The material is also responsive to heat and humidity changes, which could allow autonomous machines to harness tiny energy changes in the environment.<\/p>\n<p>The major component is nickel, so the material cost is low, and fabrication uses a simple electrodeposition process, allowing for scaling up and manufacture in industry.<\/p>\n<p>Developing actuating materials was identified as the leading grand challenge in \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/robotics.sciencemag.org\/content\/3\/14\/eaar7650\" >The grand challenges of <em>Science Robotics<\/em><\/a>\u201d\u00a0to \u201cdeeply root robotics research in science while developing novel robotic platforms that will enable new scientific discoveries.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_318175\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 339px;  border: 1px solid #dddddd; background-color: #f3f3f3; padding-top: 4px; margin: 10px; text-align:center; display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kurzweilai.net\/new-material-eliminates-need-for-motors-or-actuators-in-future-robots-other-devices\/mini-walking-bot\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-318175\"><img class=\" wp-image-318175\" title=\"Mini walking bot\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kurzweilai.net\/images\/Mini-walking-bot.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"329\" height=\"457\" \/><\/a><p style=' padding: 0 4px 5px; margin: 0;'  class=\"wp-caption-text\">Using a light blocker (top) a mini walking bot (bottom) with the \u201cfront leg\u201d bent and straightened alternatively can walk towards a light source. (credit: University of Hong Kong)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><iframe frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9wjxlXIqd88\" width=\"560\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<em>University of Hong Kong | Future Robots need No Motors<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Ref.: <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/robotics.sciencemag.org\/content\/3\/18\/eaat4051.full\">Science Robotics<\/a><em>. Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hku.hk\/press\/news_detail_17948.html\">University of Hong Kong<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>University of Hong Kong researchers have invented a radical new lightweight material that could replace traditional bulky, heavy motors or actuators in robots, medical devices, prosthetic muscles, exoskeletons, microrobots, and other types of devices. The new actuating material &mdash; nickel hydroxide-oxyhydroxide &mdash; can be instantly triggered and wirelessly powered by low-intensity visible light or electricity [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":454,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,55,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-airobotics","category-nanotechmaterials-science","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25194"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25194"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25195,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25194\/revisions\/25195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}