Real muscles let tiny robots jump, swim, and grasp

Researchers have developed muscle actuators that flex strongly enough to enable small robots to jump, swim, walk, and grasp.

Lab-grown skeletal muscle tissue can contract, but the movement is often so slight that it is barely visible. This poses a problem for biohybrid robots designed to move using living muscles.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have now demonstrated that it is not just the amount of muscle tissue that matters, but above all how the muscle and the artificial...