ETH researches muscles controlled by ultrasound

(CONNECT) Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) are working on the development of artificial muscles. According to a press release, these are to receive their mobility from pulses triggered by ultrasound. After technical implementation, the products will be able to be used as gripper arms or robots in medicine, for diagnostics or targeted drug delivery.

The basis of the novel muscles is a silicone membrane that contains tiny pores around 100 micrometers deep on its underside. If this film is immersed in water, air particles remain trapped in the pores, which can be controlled using ultrasound. As a result, the membrane moves. The researchers led by Daniel Ahmed, Professor of Acoustic Robotics in Life Sciences and Healthcare, have succeeded in using ultrasound to initiate targeted movements based on the size, shape and orientation of the vesicles. Experiments have shown that a gripper arm or a swimming robot in the form of a stingray can be recreated in this way. "The wave-like movement was a real highlight for us," Daniel Ahmed is quoted as saying in the press release. "It shows that we can generate not only simple movements with the vesicles, but also complex patterns like in a living organism."

In another experiment, such a Stingraybot, as the researchers called it, was able to navigate in a pig's intestine as a small wheel driven by ultrasound. This could facilitate both diagnostics and the administration of medication in this complicated organ. The latest results of the study were recently published in the journal "Nature". ce/ww