Article Synopsis
- This text discusses the potential benefits of using molecular motors for large-scale applications, particularly in robotics, but faces challenges in efficiently integrating them into engineered systems.
- The authors present a new active network that uses engineered kinesin motors and microtubules, mimicking muscle behavior, to achieve macroscopic movement.
- The system can be precisely formed using patterned ultraviolet light and is compatible with printing technologies, allowing for the creation of soft robotic components that can generate significant forces.
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Article Abstract
Leveraging the motion and force of individual molecular motors in a controlled manner to perform macroscopic tasks can provide substantial benefits to many applications, including robotics. Nonetheless, although millimetre-scale movement has been demonstrated with synthetic and biological molecular motors, their efficient integration into engineered systems that perform macroscopic tasks remains challenging. Here, we describe an active network capable of macroscopic actuation that is hierarchically assembled from an engineered kinesin, a biomolecular motor, and microtubules, resembling the contractile units in muscles. These contracting materials can be formed in desired areas using patterned ultraviolet illumination, allowing their incorporation into mechanically engineered systems, being also compatible with printing technologies. Due to the designed filamentous assembly of kinesins, the generated forces reach the micronewton range, enabling actuation of millimetre-scale mechanical components. These properties may be useful for the fabrication of soft robotic systems with advanced functionalities.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41563-021-00969-6 | DOI Listing |
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