SNU College of Engineering (Dean Kookheon Char) announced on the 20th that Yong-Lae Park, Professor of the SNU Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and his team has developed artificial muscles embedded with soft sensors that simulate the proprioceptive organs of biological muscles. This latest research work has made it possible for robots to control muscle units, opening the scope for developing soft robots that replicate human- and animal-like movements
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The soft sensors used for this research are very thin and elastic in nature, having the advantages of being aptly utilized for motor control of muscles without significantly influencing muscle size and weight. Further, since the artificial muscle has been made into flat patch-like structures, the volume has been compactly minimalized, making it possible to develop soft robots with various small and large muscles, just like that of human beings.
 
In biological muscles, there exist muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs which are proprioceptors that detect the length and force of contractions when muscles are at work. Humans or animals can control their muscles through the action of these receptors to induce the body's desired movement or force.
 
So far, robots have only controlled the overall movement or strength of sensors, and there have been limitations in creating collaborative movements by delicately controlling the actuator itself. Professor Yong-Lae Park’s team, wishing to overcome this limitation, embedded soft sensors simulating the muscle spindle and Golgi tendon organs of biological muscles directly into the pneumatic artificial muscle using a liquid conductor, allowing the contraction length and force of artificial muscles to be measured simultaneously. Using the feedback signal from the soft sensors embedded to each muscle in real-time, the robot is able to implement the delicate and smooth movements of humans.
 
In joint research with Carnegie Mellon University of the U.S., Professor Yong-Lae Park and his team’s findings were published in the August issue of ‘Soft Robotics’, an international soft robotics journal. The paper is titled 'Sensorized, Flat, Pneumatic, Artificial Muscle Embedded with Biomimetic Microfluidic Sensors for Proprioceptive Feedback'.

 
 
[References]
Research Paper: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/soro.2018.0110
J. Wirekoh, L. Valle, N. Pol, and Y.-L. Park, “Sensorized, Flat, Pneumatic Artificial Muscle Embedded with Biomimetic Microfluidic Sensors for Proprioceptive Feedback,” Soft Robotics, 2019.