
Tiny brick-busting ‘muscles’ for miniature robotics are sourced from wood
A hydrogel muscle (left) and a piece of hydrogel before being combined with carbon nanotubes. Credit: KTH Royal Institute of Technology Wood is the source for a brick-breaking mini robotic muscle material developed by researchers in Sweden and Germany. The material—a specially-developed hydrogel—can shape-shift, expand and contract on demand when controlled with electronic impulses of…