EU PROJECT N.801378 MAGNIFY 'From nano to macro: a groundbreakIng actuation technology for robotic systems' (DCM.AD004.041)
Thematic area
Chemical sciences and materials technology
Project area
Chimica verde e processi per la sostenibilità (DCM.AD004)Structure responsible for the research project
Institute for organic syntheses and photoreactivity (ISOF)
Other structures collaborating in the research project
Project manager
ROBERTO ZAMBONI
Phone number: 051639770
Email: direzione@isof.cnr.it
Abstract
The long-term vision of the MAGNIFY project is to design and realize a new generation of artificial muscles for robotic systems, characterized by high force-to-weight ratio, high flexibility, fast reacting properties, and intrinsic rigidity tuning.
The scientific and technological breakthrough consists in using billions of artificial molecular machines, organized in polymer electrospun nanofibers and controlled by electrical stimuli, to realize an artificial macroscopic muscle. Thanks to this bottom- up methodology, the stimuli-controlled nanoscale movements of the collective molecular machines will be incrementally amplified up to the macro-scale in the artificial muscle.
The breakthrough of the MAGNIFY project is certainly ambitious because it contains novel scientific and technological challenges in several scientific disciplines. The design of the artificial muscle from the nano-scale up to the macro-scale will be a concrete foundational breakthrough because it will establish an essential basis for a new kind of actuation technology and its future use in robotic systems, as never anticipated before.
Goals
The realization of the artificial macroscopic muscle will be achieved through the completion of the following four objectives.
Objective 1: Realization of the artificial synchronous-movement mechanism. Mechanically interlocked molecular architectures that can extend and contract in response to electrical stimulation will be realized. From these species, macromolecules will be obtained wherein the mechanical extension-contraction can be amplified from the nanometer to the micrometer scale.
Objective 2: Realization of the artificial myofibril. The contractile macromolecules will be embedded and oriented in electrospun nanofibers, which are endowed with conductive layers to deliver the electrical stimulation.
Objective 3: Realization of the artificial muscle fiber, the artificial fascicle, and the artificial muscle. A three-level hierarchical organization of the myofibrils into bundles will enable a fine tuning of the force-to-weight ratio, flexibility, response time and rigidity.
Objective 4: Realization and testing of the robotic joint prototype. A robotic joint prototype will be actuated by the artificial muscles, showing performance comparable to human muscles.
Start date of activity
01/10/2018
Keywords
Nanotechnology, Supramolecular chemistry, Intelligent materials
Last update: 17/05/2024