There was an exciting discovery that hit the news last month -- researchers at the University of Texas learned that appropriately coiled nylon monofilament line could be used to make heat-activated artificial muscles. Here's an article on it: http://io9.com/scientists-just-created-some-of-the-most-powerful-muscl-1526957560 I've had some success duplicating their work as a hobbyist -- in particular, I've gotten one of these muscles to lift a suspended ferrite core about a centimeter, then relax again. With enough refinement, this technique for making muscles might become a substantially cheaper alternative to nitinol wire.
Has anyone else tried making these yet? Questions and comments welcome. If you're interested in what did and didn't work for me when I was making these, check my blog: http://writerofminds.blogspot.com/2014/03/diy-fishing-line-artificial-muscles-iii.html I've also got more videos of working muscles on there.
Edit: added picture. I tried to embed one of my videos here, but it doesn't seem to be working.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnHByFnGawM
That is the coolest thing!
This is the kind on thing I have always been interested in! Please post more on your experiments.
I’ll take a look at the video upload issue. I just have to see this stuff in action.
There’ll be more …
Lately I’ve had my hands full with the FIRST team I’m mentoring, but I will post again as soon as I have some more substantive results.
You can see the videos embedded in my blog post. I just couldn’t get one to embed in my forum post here, for some reason.
There’ll be more …
Lately I’ve had my hands full with the FIRST team I’m mentoring, but I will post again as soon as I have some more substantive results.
You can see the videos embedded in my blog post. I just couldn’t get one to embed in my forum post here, for some reason.
More results finally!
The blog post includes a video of one of my best-performing muscles yet. I also discuss annealing experiments and a couple more types of heating wire that I tried out. http://writerofminds.blogspot.com/2014/05/homemade-artificial-muscles-iv.html
The muscles are getting pretty good. I think I’m about ready to build some for an application.
More results finally!
The blog post includes a video of one of my best-performing muscles yet. I also discuss annealing experiments and a couple more types of heating wire that I tried out. http://writerofminds.blogspot.com/2014/05/homemade-artificial-muscles-iv.html
The muscles are getting pretty good. I think I’m about ready to build some for an application.
Further experiments …
Work on the artificial muscles continues. I have an update planned for tomorrow with data on how much weight they can lift and how far, but before I get to that, there’s some little stuff. First, I made a gigantic muscle out of nylon trimmer line, and it worked – further expanding the possible variations for making these at home. Second, I have some observations and speculations about why the coils of the muscles sometimes “flatten.” http://writerofminds.blogspot.com/2014/08/homemade-nylon-artificial-muscles-v.html
Sorry about my previous double-posts. I am only trying to post once, and I don’t know why that is happening.
And as promised …
… the update with muscle characterization data.
http://writerofminds.blogspot.com/2014/08/nylon-fishing-line-artificial-muscles-vi.html
Basic conclusions: secondary coil diameter can be tuned for your application to trade maximum lifting force, maximum lifting distance, and power consumption against each other. Smaller coil diameters have more weight-bearing capacity but don’t move loads across large distances as easily.
