Biohybrid Research to Strengthen Muscle-Bound Robots and Drones
Researchers with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory are collaborating with researchers at Duke University and the University of North Carolina on high-risk studies in biohybrid robotics. They say that robotic systems packed with muscle tissue can produce never-seen-before agility and versatility. Biohybrid robotics integrates living organisms to mechanical systems to improve performance. The first applications for biohybrid robotics the team expects to focus on are legged platforms and flapping-wing drones. Duke University will direct computational research and the University of North Carolina will manage experiments validating the predictions from the computational efforts. Army researchers will work on the theoretical mesomechanics that can be tested with the data collected from both the computational and experimental efforts. Their work will be supplemented by a Duke University team working on macroscopic performance characteristics of muscle, tendon, and ligaments in jumping creatures for use in legged robots.
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00:00:06 a new research from a team of scientists with the combat capabilities development command Army research laboratory living organisms will be added to Army mechanical systems like legged platforms similar to these Army and Marine Corps experimental platforms to improve how future soldiers engage with robots this re research space is called biohybrid robotics researchers Envision futur
00:00:37 legged platforms with muscle tissue added to robotic joints in place of traditional actuators embedding muscle tissue in future robots is expected to produce never seen before agility and versatility and open up new opportunities for robots to venture into space is highly risky for war Fighters muscle at its core can accommodate unpredictable needs because
00:01:03 it stretches muscle is partly responsible for a weight lifter's ability to lift or press hundreds of pounds in this bio hybrid research effort Army researchers are interested in introducing the kind of agility and precision that muscle offers biological systems to mechanical systems as muscle serves as the human body's distributed
00:01:32 actuator researchers want to improve the characteristics of mechanical actuators muscles also adjust it's muscle actuation that contributes majorly to animals ability to balance on and navigate uneven and unreliable terrain the first applications for biohybrid robotics the team expects to focus on include platforms similar to the US Army's
00:02:03 legged Locomotion and movement adaptation research platform known as llama and the US Marine corp's legged Squad support system or LS3 [Music]