Put it on SkyNet: Lab creates synthetic muscle that can “humanize” robots

Who has watched the saga of movies from Star Wars, recalls that when “that character that did not appear on the poster” of Star Wars The Force Awakens lost his hand, received a robotic arm. The futuristic technology portrayed in the films allowed the bionic hand to function and appear to be a perfect human hand.

In Terminator, the cyborg T-1000 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has a flesh-covered metal skeleton, which gives it a human-like appearance. These films are two classic works of science fiction, but if it depends on Ras Labs, they will come true.

The lab is studying and developing synthetic materials that resemble muscle. They react to electrical impulses by contracting or expanding and were thought to create prostheses for amputees, but nothing prevents them from being used in robots.

As a rule, like all great scientific discoveries, this material was discovered by chance by Rasmussen Lenore, PhD, with a doctorate in chemistry and biology and co-founder of Ras Labs, who accidentally mis-dosed ingredients in an experiment and ended up developing a “jelly” that reacts to electrical stimuli.

Six years later, when her cousin nearly lost his foot in a farming accident, she began researching prosthetics and realized that the options on the market weren't good enough, nor did they look like anything truly "human", or comfortable. So she started to develop something that reacted and looked like human tissue and could be used by amputees (or exterminator robots).

The CEO of Ras Labs, Eric Sandberg compares what his team is doing to the work of rebuilding “that character’s” arm from Star Wars, mentioned at the beginning.

“We are making science fiction come true,” said Rasmussen

And even though the initial focus of the work is to help people with amputated limbs, Lenore's team is already thinking about the future. Samples of the polymer have been sent into space inside SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket to see how they perform in space, and the material is expected to be taken to Mars on NASA mission in 2020.

Rasmussen hopes to apply his material to both humans and robots within five years.

So, did you like the news, or do you think SkyNet is taking another step towards becoming a reality?

Source: TC