![a new twist on artificial muscles for safer softer robots](https://utterbuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/a-new-twist-on-artificial-muscles-for-safer-softer-robots-640x437.jpg)
Engineers have developed a new soft, flexible device that makes robots move by expanding and contracting — just like a human muscle. To demonstrate their new device, called an actuator, the researchers used it to create a cylindrical, worm-like soft robot and an artificial bicep. In experiments, the cylindrical soft robot navigated the tight, hairpin curves of a narrow pipe-like environment, and the bicep was able to lift a 500-gram weight 5,000 times in a row without failing.