Mechanical muscles, shape-memory actuators, being developed by MIT

Technological developments boasting better efficiency are springing up everywhere. The guys at MIT have come up with an innovation to “muscle up” electronic devices in the future. These shape-memory alloys on heating change shape, acting as mechanical muscles that produce three to six times more torque and weigh one-20th. These devices known as actuators to be used in electronic devices are cut out from flat metal sheets, a fraction of a millimeter thick.

Rectangular notches chiseled into a metal alloy increases electrical resistance. The material around these rectangular notches heats up when an electric current passes. These shape-memory actuators use this principal and are expected to exert a force, 160 times of their own weight. These tiny muscle-like devices being developed by MIT could help increase energy efficiency of electronics in future.

[Popsci]