Category Archives: muscle wire

Robotic Muscles from Fishing Line and Nichrome

Posted on July 11, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

Did you know that under the right conditions, nylon can be used as a type of artificial muscle? We certainly didn’t until we came across [Brandon T. Wood]’s Material Linear-Actuator for Robotics entry for the 2018 Hackaday Prize.

When [Brandon] first learned about Nylon Linear Material Actuators (NLMAs), he became determined to find a repeatable and practical method of making and experimenting with them. This is how it works: hyper-wound coils of nylon, when heated, will contract along their length while expanding in width. Upon cooling, they return to their original shape.

[Brandon] has been busy mainly with the kind …read more

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Posted in muscle wire, nichrome, NLMA, Nylon Linear Material Actuator, nylon muscle, robotics, The Hackaday Prize | Leave a comment