I just ran across a article on ArsTechnica regarding artificial muscles made out of carbon nanotubes… Can Boomers now be far behind?

Okay, so we still have to work on the entire Artificial Intelligence bit, especially where they randomly go on a rampage for no apparent reason… But still, artificial muscles with that density was a dream a decade ago.

Take a look at the article at Ars Technica. Then wonder what we can use this technology for. Just remember, Doctor Stingray just wanted to make a better toaster, instead we got Boomers…. (No, it’s not a BSG reference! I’ll hand out a guaranteed No-Prize [TM, Marvel] For the first person that identifies the Toaster reference…)

Artificial muscles are likely to be essential components of robotics, prosthetic limbs, and a variety of micro-machinery. Quite a few designs are out there, involving materials like carbon nanotubes and silicon elastomers but, to one degree or another, these usually fail to operate as well as natural human muscles. In today’s issue of Science, University of Texas scientists led by Ray Baughman report on a new type of muscle that dramatically outperforms biological ones in nearly every way.

Baughman’s research group created carbon nanotube aerogel sheets by pulling nanotubes’from a mass of disordered tubes’into organized bundles of ribbons. These bundles formed an aerogel with a surprisingly low density (about 1.5 mg/cm³), making them nearly as light as air. Just one gram of this material can cover an area of over 30 m². Although these sheets can spread out, they are also compressible. Their thickness can be reduced 400-fold, decreasing their overall volume. Perhaps even more notable than their low density is their amazing elasticity, which is simultaneously combined with hardness.