Development of Synthetic Muscle Systems for NASA Space Robotics/EVA Applications

The goal of the proposed Phase I research is to explore the feasibility of developing a family of novel synthetic muscle systems with robotic sensing and actuation capabilities, for a wide spectrum of NASA space robotic and EVA applications. In particular, configurations of interest may be in the form of multi-fingered biomimetic robotic hands to handle delicate and small space objects such as small samples of space rocks. Also, the fact that the proposed synthetic muscles can easily sustain the cold harsh environment of space and yet be biomimetic and noiseless and operational under low voltage (2-10 volts) is of significance to NASA related missions.