INNOVATION
1
2
IMAGE] fight-poster
[CREDIT] Megabots
[CAPTION] The world’s first
giant robot ‘duel’ took place in
October 2017.
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1:
The world’s first giant robot ‘duel’ took place in
October 2017.
4:
Japan’s Kuratas, built by Suidobashi Heavy
Industries, knocks down the USA’s Iron Glory,
built by Megabots.
2 & 3: The two teams with their robots.
compressible skeleton, a flexible skin, and a
fluid medium. The results of the study were
published in November 2017 in an article titled
‘Fluid-driven origami-inspired artificial muscles’,
which appeared in the journal
34
MARCH 2018
Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences (PNAS).
According to the study, these artificial
muscles, or actuators, can be manufactured
using a wide variety of materials and
fabrication processes programmed for
functions beyond basic actuation, including
“complex multiaxial actuation, and even
controllable motion with multiple degrees
of freedom”. The study “presents an
architecture for fluidic artificial muscles with
unprecedented performance-to-