The artificial muscles that will power robots of the future | Christoph Keplinger

Robot brains are getting smarter and smarter, but their bodies are often still clunky and unwieldy. Mechanical engineer Christoph Keplinger is designing a new generation of soft, agile robot inspired by a masterpiece of evolution: biological muscle. See these "artificial muscles" expand and contract like the real thing and reach superhuman speeds -- and learn how they could power prosthetics that are stronger and more efficient than human limbs.
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[@Taymanator0051]

This is an amazing advancement and has such great potential. Precision and strength, cheap and flexible. I'll have to remember this, thank you TED.

[@nassav3]

Still remember?

[@BabyRicaxO]

Taymanator0051 AI WILL BE DEADLY ENOUGH AND DEFINITELY ABUSED AGAINST US! YEAH MAKE THEM BETTER, JUST TO TAKE OVER! DO SOME RESEARCH, A.I. IS NOT A GOOD IDEA! ELON MUSK WARNS AGAINST A.I.

[@tasuro]

@@BabyRicaxO Elon Musk didnt say AI is a bad idea... He said it can go both ways...

[@azhuransmx126]

It Will be as Good or as Bad as we want

[@gatoninja4387]

THEY HAVE STOLEN IDEAS FROM INVENTORS AND SCIENTISTS EVEN THINGS FROM THE 80'S DECADE SHOW THEM AS CREATED NOW AND NOW THEY ARE AWARDED TO THEM AS CREATORS

[@antiawarenessawarenessclub]

Old science, new application. I love it! Also shows that "useless" findings now may have purpose in the future in ways we can never predict.

[@henkie6170]

The most simple solutions are the most elegant. Simple concept, great potential, keep up the good work.

[@gatoninja4387]

THEY HAVE STOLEN IDEAS FROM INVENTORS AND SCIENTISTS EVEN THINGS FROM THE 80'S DECADE SHOW THEM AS CREATED NOW AND NOW THEY ARE AWARDED TO THEM AS CREATORS

[@shanepye7078]

Wow! I've often wondered how to build artificial muscles that can contract and expand. The more I think about this, its a little scary. Machines with the grace and dexterity of a human body, but muscle that does not tire, and can be pushed far beyond what organic muscles can do before they literally snap. Speeds and PSI. I gotta watch it again.

[@rommdan2716]

And you can implact this in your body.

[@dennisrichards2540]

After saying thank you at the end he should have said ' Thank you and Hasta la Vista' wasted potential . . . sigh

[@aperson2730]

1:22 Well coordinated kid

[@chris.vitae95]

Amazing! I would instantly invest in your company.

[@coldblaze100]

Netflix: releases movie about killer robot moms. Engineers: let's give robots muscles

[@stevejordan7275]

@ King David Remember to temper that pessimism and cynicism with a little hope. There's a story by Ray Bradbury called *The Electric Grandmother* that was made into a TV movie long ago. Well worth your time to watch...and it's right here on YT: kzbin.info/www/bejne/movWn6Odqb6pftU

[@CLBellamey]

Great talk, very exciting! :)

[@michaeld954]

That elephant trunk is basically a human spine

[@garypaisley]

I get goose bumps thinking about 8,000 Volts

[@roxrequiem2935]

Depending on the volume and conductivity of the material. Or else they blow up.

[@RavenAmetr]

Amazing!!! Finally, something feasible.

[@nimrod06]

Definitely one of the better TED Talks in a while

[@beautifulsmall]

And now to connect all the moving parts to the stationary ones.Exciting progress. power to weight should improve with shrinkage

[@sekyr.]

The idea behind this 'electro- hydraulic' would seem to be superior to many other modern solenoids and actuators. I am intrigued as to how small it can be scaled. i.e. power to weight ratios.

[@MattRoszak]

Looks good, but what about power consumption? Can a robot made of that stuff run as long as a human can without a power cable? Either way, looking forward to seeing how this sort of tech develops.

[@sykessaul123]

From the sounds of it this seems like it would be a lot less energy intensive than the current electrical motor driven robotics and so would almost certainly last longer than a traditional autonomous robot.

[@claudelebel49]

An interesting but very robotic presentation.

[@h0lyrs422]

LOL I see what you did there

[@murraymadness4674]

Looks promising. It has been 3 years now, any updates?

[@TheSmkngun]

Awesome. But kilovolts (kV) and bio compatibility?

[@AlexanderTeterkin]

He said we can or even should try it at home. Ok. I gonna need a Tesla coil first... Yeah. 😎

[@AlexanderTeterkin]

You are the only one who noticed the kVolts. 😀

[@ThexBorg]

He who invents electroactive polymer fibres... Wins the robotics race.

[@robertidonotsharemyfullnam496]

9:40 sounds scary from a guy who sounds like the terminator XD P.S I am from austria myself I just founded a company called skynet. Y'all think its a good name ?

[@GodSpeaksInMath]

Lol.. but seriously tho Modern Scientists and their priorities only make sense to extraterrestrials... While the rest of the awake humans are trying to fix the planet and prevent the next Fukushima-like meltdown or at least try to figure out why the clouds in the sky are so different now.

[@ristopaasivirta9770]

I think you are a bit late. There is already a company called Skynet (Skynet Worldwide Express to be exact), a package delivery company. There is also a Japanese company called Cyberdyne that is focusing on exoskeleton suits :D

[@BManStan1991]

Can’t wait to see this applied in a real world application.

[@1p6t1gms]

Fascinating

[@sajjadhossanshimanto8622]

That's Amazing! Somebody give this guy an Oscar

[@dom2428]

he says safe but the voltages those things operate at is crazy

[@reubenha1]

Quite ingenious. The process itself seems very energy efficient as well. The current tech is motors and rotation needs loads of gears and pivots to convert that into push and pull action, inducing friction and needing lubrication. Now however the challenge is to develop durable soft materials. Its no fun spilling oil all over the place.

[@jingli7206]

Great job for a starting field. The voltage is to high in practice. But good job anyway.

[@ianmarais9403]

It's just for the experiment, they will obviously still tune it for finer and more precise voltage aplocations for practical jobs when it comes to it, this is still a development stage of an entirly new field.

[@balkrushnakadam7082]

I would be great if someone will create crysis like artificial muscle exoskeleton from this technology

[@Ragmon1]

Nothing all that new, some trucks have been using pneumatic-rubber-membranes instead of cylinders, for raising and lowering stuff, for a while now. Solving the compression with electricity, now that part is very smart.

[@aymandexter2195]

Outstanding 😯😯

[@BearerOfLightSonOfGod]

I'm curious how long do the muscles last do they wear down at all the must but i need numbers

[@successtime4198]

That's Amazing inventions we All teams support Your Mission.......A synthetic Muscles Robots I hope we can Help

[@unvergebeneid]

Huh, I don't know what the energy efficiency of these things is but at least the space efficiency seems to be hampered by most of it being dead weight and only the membranes do the real work and even there only parts of them. He says they outperform biological muscles but that's without telling us how much energy is being pumped into these things through the cables that lead to somewhere out of frame.

[@Gorguruga]

In a few of the demonstration videos the voltage is mentioned in text. Like this one... 8:10

[@unvergebeneid]

@@Gorguruga Just volts don't tell you much though. Without knowing how many amps were flowing, you don't get a wattage.

[@TheComedyButchers]

Neat

[@casperknudsen7086]

This is how Tyrell corp starts... replicas incoming!

[@marc252]

Beyond cool

[@shokhapro]

Great invention!

[@WadeWilson-]

the claps.... the god damn CLAPS

[@carlomorischi3435]

Why olive oil and not water?

[@dus666]

Because water would boil, i think when you put a current through it?

[@mybluemars]

We are soft robotics!

[@kennetheilor]

Love this...❤️

[@meowjan3447]

OMG THIS IS AWESOME !!!

[@AlexParkYT]

Instead of thinking it was a hardissue they should have realized in was a softissue

[@mhtinla]

Take a HUMAN, control the BRAIN. There you have it, the ARTIFICIAL MUSCLES.

[@mhtinla]

Many dictators and sweat shop owners around the world already master this technology.

[@pepijntjuh123]

would be organic, not artificial

[@chhau123]

Yea and it’s much cheaper , until this has changed nobody will invest otherwise

[@askalice7222]

Ummm... military recruits?? Poor kids... fucked for life...

[@raiyan1000]

Just another step into making robots just like in Detroit Become Human

[@gphilipc2031]

He looks like me getting out da caw.

[@ianstull84]

I love it

[@aravindadas567]

very nice, by using artificial muscle,we can make more biological moving robot or humanoid. like humanbeing.

[@-LightningRod-]

wow.

[@askalice7222]

After browsing through some of these thought-provoking mind- numbing comments one musically inspired phrase comes comes to mind: "fear of a female planet?"

[@elguinolo7358]

Shut up and take my money !

[@SomakesavuluKundooru]

Imagine AI robots breed humans for their flexible muscles. Just like we breed chicken for eating

[@rayray6548]

Good, let build them robot with weakness. Batman would be happy to learn they can bleed.

[@geoffhalsey2184]

It'll be interesting to see how this technology develops and applications it's put to. No mention of efficiency, in terms of electrical power in, to muscle power out? Beyond the obvious medical and military benefits, I can see companies developing this for the lucrative personal entertainment business, of a sexual nature, in the not to distant future.

[@fredfredrickson2312]

That's it; we're obsolete.

[@AnthonyAllenJr]

Cool

[@dharmateja22]

Yep, soft robotics is the way to get more robots working freely with humans in close proximity.

[@smumdax]

Want to defend yourself against future oily-muscle-robots? Keep a needle close by.

[@overflow7276]

Amazing Work! Leiwande G'schicht! Greetings from a tissue engineering laboratory! Maybe we will find some suitable biomaterial instead of zip-pouches and Alu for you! :D

[@askalice7222]

Great, I could use some new tissues!!! Get a move on, young ones, I'm getting aged!!

[@vitor900000]

He didn't talk about one of the most important things.... Power efficiency... If it requires much more power than commons actuators then its nearly useless.

[@Tommo020788]

1:39 its not exactly a great example of the difference in physical ability, showing a child vs a robot. If u put the brain of that child in the robot, you would see it get out of the car very quickly too. Its main issue in SPEED isnt so much the physical aspect, its the brains ability to solve problems so quickly in comparison to a computer processing zeros and ones. If you swapped their bodies, the robot would have even more trouble getting out of the car, cos it simply could not handle that much input of so many different moving parts. The brain comes first, then the body.

[@godDIEmanLIVE]

Incredible talk. Very exciting.

[@OneMale2012]

In aA.I. robot world there would be no more hunger, greed, suffering, no more war no more corruption or crime a new level of conscious would be achieved through evolution of life and the conscious , the tree of life makes a quantum leap , a superior life force emerges from the tree of life and will end the need for the human experience since they live in corruption and slaves to interest.

[@askalice7222]

Oh god....

[@pauliericher8504]

speechless

[@reypatey]

Wilhelm Röntgen - the first hipster in history.

[@IguanamobisPltworzeniestron]

It is bad future. Human is not irreplaceable.

[@97denis97]

well humans are very replaceable and you can see it in every field of work...

[@IguanamobisPltworzeniestron]

@@97denis97 between himself and still it is human.

[@rickrolledtruth5834]

funny how people can't stop to smell the roses.... Oh wait I'm sure they will make an artificial rose to smell better... smh... keep up the Great Work I'm sure you'll make that perfect a.i bot.

[@GNeuman]

He's the six million dollar Austrian...

[@damianmatras8568]

Everyday artificial intelligence is getting closer to perfection. One day we will conquer the world.

[@askalice7222]

WTHAY rambling on about now??

[@damianmatras8568]

@@askalice7222 ;-)

[@askalice7222]

@@damianmatras8568 🦝 💫

[@insertstupidserialnumberhe2727]

Is it just me or is that blade runner all over again

[@Gorguruga]

One of the best TED talks I've seen. Fascinating topic, thoroughly informative speaker and brilliant demonstration videos.

[@gatoninja4387]

THEY HAVE STOLEN IDEAS FROM INVENTORS AND SCIENTISTS EVEN THINGS FROM THE 80'S DECADE SHOW THEM AS CREATED NOW AND NOW THEY ARE AWARDED TO THEM AS CREATORS

[@joannot6706]

I live for this kind of TED talk! Crazy thing is that the principles enabling this was there for years! Seriously, tech improvement like this is in itself a good enough reason to keep living.

[@richardm4857]

A good enough reason to keep on living? That sounds really sad. Unless you're an AI brain waiting for a body that's indistinguishable from us real humans. I can see how a brain being stuck in a big clunky clumsy steel body could be a reason for it not wanting to live anymore, that would really suck. Otherwise, I do not need advancements in technology to want keep on living.

[@joannot6706]

​@@richardm4857 An AI brain? what about a quadriplegic young folk? or someone who got Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ( the thing Hawkings had)? You are straw maning me there, this is not the *only* thing I live for but new tech awesome life changing tech, I live for that thing, it makes me happy, I am passionate about something that will help billions, who would classify that as sad? I honestly don't get it.

[@richardm4857]

@@joannot6706 You're right. I apologize for being pretty so selfish. Yeah I can easily see how this could give lots of people hope. I worry because the powers that be might not want to use it for the good of humanity. I also believe they've developed this type of stuff way beyond what they show here but that might be from watching too many KZbin video's. Peace.

[@ShinyVeggie]

@@richardm4857 It's not sad at all. People have different passions. Some people live by art. Some people enjoy teaching. Some people, like me, are happy to see the advancements of technology and experiencing how far humans can go. People have different outlooks on life, and that's why we can have such a diverse culture around the world.

[@GodSpeaksInMath]

Modern Scientists and their priorities only make sense to extraterrestrials... While the rest of the awake humans are trying to fix the planet and prevent the next Fukushima-like meltdown or at least try to figure out why the clouds in the sky are so different now.

[@danterj1990]

If you can imagine this with graphene and nanotube of carbon(graphene) : CRYSIS

[@XRCADIA]

*mind blown*

[@richmondmawuli9265]

It going to be badass

[@97denis97]

So cybernetics by 2077 ?!!? Well then ill start to train on wielding mantis bladed arms then...

[@sykessaul123]

Cybernetics in 2040 my dude, better hurry up before someone nicks ur idea ;)

[@Smittumi]

You're my ripperdoc.

[@TheCompleteMental]

I dont care if I have to make the advancement or not, allow me to become General Grievous with science

[@yapandasoftware]

The gastrocnemius muscle from a frog is 20 X stronger than a human's muscle. A simple 3.3V stimulation can contract this muscle and no human alive can keep it from hierarchically contracting. This is because this muscle is hydraulic and expands and contracts with a force much like a machine but it can do it at an extremely rapid pace. In 1994, a group of scientist I was involved with at the Redgate Labs got a gastrocnemius muscle to live 100 days in a dihydrostreptomycin sulfate and bovine serum called "Hank's Base" and we contracted the muscle over 100,000 cycles. I believe one day it will be possible to use real muscles in a latex sheathe with a active mechanical liver for filtering the lactic acid which cause the muscle to break down and have a sensor which monitors the antimutagenic liquid which promotes muscle growth in exchange for work (Force) using small current and voltage Pulse modified wave form. This... will be the future of robotics I believe.

[@sneeringimperialist6667]

How difficult would it be to gene splice that muscle into human genes? 20x the muscle strength sounds pretty useful in people, as well as robots! Even if you have to reinforce the bones and ligaments to keep it from tearing apart.

[@sidneo14]

"Microhydraulic actuators driven by electrowetting" have 20 times the performance of the best performing biological muscle at 70 to 80 percent efficiency .can be run at 3 volt or much less depending on the microhydraulic channels size and the electrolyte.

[@yapandasoftware]

@@sidneo14 It's the contraction distance vs force. Microhydraulic actuators don't move very far. A gastroc muscle can contract as much as 4 inches with a 3V pulse signal to the sciatic nerve branches which cause a hierarchical contraction filling the cells with fluids and acting much like hydraulic cells in the Venus Fly trap. The sciatic nerve innervates the gastrocnemius muscle which carries the pulse signal via the sheath covering like a conductor. As the pulse modulation increases in amplitude, the muscle contracts (Takes on fluid) and when the modulation amplitude decreases, the muscle relaxes (loses the fluid but gains lactic acid) This contraction and relaxation builds up the lactic acid which if there isn't a stabilizer in the fluid, the lactic acid begins to break the muscle down but using neutralizers and anti-mutenogenic compounds along with proteins and glucose, the muscle increases in strength and size. The only issue is the MTBF which is short lived. Most of our samples only lived a few days. With lots of testing and alterations, we were able to stabilize the muscle tissue and keep it alive for a relatively long time.

[@askalice7222]

That is insane. What a waste of time & bovine serum.

[@yapandasoftware]

Alice Lookingglass replied: "They best hurry & gather their frogs, I read they are being wiped out by a fungus virus... Where do these sCIeNtIsTS acquire their bovine serum, can you find out? Srealing it from the ranchers or ..." 3 hours ago Okay not sure what a "fungus virus" is. That's a new one on me. However Hank's base is a common culture used in genetic labs. it uses dihydrostreptomycin sulfate, salts and bovine serum with anti-mutenogenic compounds to prevent the cells from changing their genetic codes when they're regenerating. Now please explain to me what "srealing" is because that's a new term to me. I speak multiple languages and that's a word I've never heard before.

[@M0rn1n6St4r]

That was cool. And, my [thumbs-up] changed the value from "3.9K" to "4K".... which is the first time I've caused the change in an approximated value on KZbin.

[@jayyyzeee6409]

Witnessing a KZbin like approximation rollover is on my bucket list.

[@stevejordan7275]

One voice *does* make a difference! Be sure to vote! And...yes, very *very* cool.

[@Weaponmaster1234]

Literally No One: Crazy German Scientists: ROBOT SCORPION!!!

[@dilu5099]

He is Austrian.

[@paulgoogol2652]

Literally Every One: Yea, I have made this joke already and it got kinda boring now.

[@MrMonkeybat]

Dr Death: I made my robotic scorpion of death for peace not war! kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZzPaGSrp9Z-q5I&safe=active

[@godDIEmanLIVE]

News flash for Murica: the Reich is no more.

[@Novozymandiaz]

@@dilu5099And austrians are Germans, just like bavarians are Germans.

[@FHasan-od8fb]

in the future this discovery will be the exo suit muscle

[@UNSCPILOT]

Nah, why wear it when you can BE it?

[@Danuxsy]

@@UNSCPILOT be it like being the oil? or like, idk.

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

_THE ARTIFICIAL MUSCLES THAT WILL POWER ROBOTS OF THE FUTURE..._ *Future:* [plays earrape Electric Zoo in the distance]

[@YourFatherVEVO]

Memology will become a majorable study

[@jessecannon8196]

@@YourFatherVEVO Memetics, already a thing. also the reason that memes are called memes.

[@iveedoodle]

oh my god, this is soo interesting! I never would have thought about robotics being non metalic. this is incredible

[@stevejordan7275]

@ IvettaB Non-metallic robots? I think that's what replicants - the androids in Blade Runner - are supposed to be; machines that use mostly organic technologies. Engineered people, if you will. It wouldn't take a lot to do a brain transplant into such a thing of someone whose body had experienced colossal failure. Replacing parts lost to accidents becomes much more accessible, certainly more like the original limb rather than a hook or solid prosthetic.

[@Fiwiipe]

Should try to use 3D printed muscle like this.

[@stannone7272]

Damn simple and genius!

[@Danuxsy]

Now I understand why people inject oil in their arms

[@user-hh2is9kg9j]

the amount of the uneducated people in the comment section who take their facts from movies is alarming!

[@WTFSt0n3d]

what is it with austrian people and muscles?

[@sherwin.]

What are the odds that we see this future with robots and stuff when the rate at which we are destroying the environment, is increasing day by day.

[@neilcarson4511]

Perhaps we can build robots to plant trees, and do farm work, and clean up places no human wants to go, I would invest in that :)

[@neilcarson4511]

@@KhoPhi yep

[@aidansharples7751]

As of last month we are past the point where reforesting the earth would save us.

[@askalice7222]

@@aidansharples7751 I felt we were already in the red in the late 1980's... It's just sad how irresponsible & primitive humans really are...

[@aleistersatrjan5322]

Why can't you make it as in Deus Ex ? Is it too much to ask to design both beautiful and capable ?

[@coldblaze100]

It's actually a lot to ask for but hey we're making progress

[@wabisabi6802]

Wait till the guys at #Tenga incorporate this in their products. 😏

[@stevejordan7275]

@ wabi sabi Or how about the next generation of Hanson Robotics? Sophia 2.0 could further the descent into...[announcer voice with reverb] *The Uncanny Valley* But it'll probably require the ability to manufacture individual muscle units in submillimeter size and by the millions before it starts to become indistinguishable. Self-assembly or self-replication might also prove helpful in this. Buckle up!

[@X8X8X6X4X]

Oh boi

[@zackhadley9433]

This is how we all die. Not this alone but it certainly won’t help when they’re both more dexterous than us and more intelligent.

[@AtlasReburdened]

Oh sure, suddenly the robots are going to help us at home because they're muscles are soft. Just forget the fact that anything advanced goes straight to the military while everyone else still gets their crappy little floor bot. This time it's different.

[@qodriaziziakbar1213]

robot muscles is from plastic? then, it should be reducing plastic waste 😅. correct me if i'm wrong

[@teweldemat]

Though these highly scripted TED talks are too hard for me to watch, I like what this guy did.

[@fryingraijin]

We must build robots on a cellular level.

[@ediciusbizaar4977]

And yet movies have seen this coming decades ago! How convenient is that?!

[@poodydad01]

out frikin standing

[@ufarlig]

This is it. This is how we die.

[@NoWarInBaSingSe]

This guy is criticizing

[@funny-video-YouTube-channel]

*Helpful invention.* Now the robots can dance with more fluid moves :-) The better tools like those will help us to build better things and better products. The robot operator and maintainer will be a solid job in the future !

[@ShinyVeggie]

When the robot's fluid moves, they have fluid moves.

[@Mmaniac93]

And how close are we to creating sexbots?

[@Tyrant604]

it's happening.