CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS — Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University have developed origami-inspired artificial muscles that can lift up to one thousand times their own weight. <br /> <br />The devices could be used on next-generation soft robots, to be deployed within the body or outer space, the LA Times reported. <br /> <br />The scientists wanted to make robots that were soft and compliant yet had strength similar to hard-bodied systems. <br /> <br />The group used origami techniques to create muscle-like devices that could allow for limb flexibility without the need for hard parts. <br /> <br />They made devices that could shorten, curl, twist or bend when compressed and sealed them in a polymer bag and filled them with air or other fluids. <br />Vacuuming the air out then allowed for movement to grip, lift and twist objects. <br /> <br />The team discovered the origami muscles could squeeze down to a tenth of their original size or lift up to a thousand times their own weight. <br /> <br />Soft robotic limbs could be used in the future on small scales within the body or on large scales for outer space construction.
