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A single fiber actuator inspired by human muscles

To effectively replicate the movements of humans and animals, robots should integrate muscle-like structures. These artificial muscles should attain an optimal performance across all relevant actuation parameters, including ...

Medical robotics expert explores the human-machine interface

(PhysOrg.com) -- Jacob Rosen, associate professor of computer engineering at the Jack Baskin School of Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, is developing a wearable robotic "exoskeleton" that could enable a ...

Will strong and fast-switching artificial muscle be feasible?

In the American action movie "Pacific Rim," giant robots called "Jaegers" fight against unknown monsters to save mankind. These robots are equipped with artificial muscles that mimic real living bodies and defeat monsters ...

3-D printing, bioinks create implantable blood vessels

A biomimetic blood vessel was fabricated using a modified 3-D cell printing technique and bioinks, which were formulated from smooth muscle cells from a human aorta and endothelial cells from an umbilical vein. The result ...

Sleeping for science: What can we learn?

(Phys.org)—Why are 12 volunteers about to spend 21 days in bed, lying with their heads tilted below the horizontal? Their experience will help to understand and address changes in astronauts' bodies in space as well as ...

'Veggie' dinosaurs differed in how they ate their food

Although most early dinosaurs were vegetarian, there were surprising differences in the way that these animals tackled eating a plant-based diet, according to a new study by scientists from the Natural History Museum and ...

Researchers discover why tendons are strong as wire ropes

A team at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPICI) has discovered new properties of collagen: During the intercalation of minerals in collagen fibers, a contraction tension is generated that is hundreds ...

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Muscle

Muscle (from Latin musculus, diminutive of mus "mouse") is the contractile tissue of the body and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to produce force and cause motion. Muscles can cause either locomotion of the organism itself or movement of internal organs. Cardiac and smooth muscle contraction occurs without conscious thought and is necessary for survival. Examples are the contraction of the heart and peristalsis which pushes food through the digestive system. Voluntary contraction of the skeletal muscles is used to move the body and can be finely controlled. Examples are movements of the eye, or gross movements like the quadriceps muscle of the thigh. There are two broad types of voluntary muscle fibers: slow twitch and fast twitch. Slow twitch fibers contract for long periods of time but with little force while fast twitch fibers contract quickly and powerfully but fatigue very rapidly.

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