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In 2015, 25 teams from around the world
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competed to build robots
for disaster response
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that could perform a number of tasks,
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such as using a power tool,
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working on uneven terrain,
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and driving a car.
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That all sounds impressive, and it is,
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but look at the body
of the winning robot, Ubo.
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Here, Ubo is trying to get out of a car,
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and keep in mind,
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the video is sped up three times.
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(Laughter)
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Ubo, from ?? out of Korea,
is a state-of-the-art robot
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with impressive capabilities,
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but this body doesn't look
all that different
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from robots we've seen
a few decades ago.
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If you look at the other robots
in the competition,
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their movements also still look,
well, very robotic.
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Their bodies are complex
mechanical structures
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using rigid materials
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such as metal and traditional
rigid electric motors.
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They certainly weren't designed
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to be low-cost, safe near people,
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and adaptable to unpredictable challenges.
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We've made good progress
with the brains of robots,
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but their bodies are still primitive.
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This is my daughter Nadia.
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She's only five years old,
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and she can get out of the car
way faster than Ubo.
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(Laughter)
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She can also swing around
on monkey bars with ease
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much better than any current
human-like robot could do.
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In contrast to Ubo,
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the human body makes extensive use
of soft and deformable materials
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such as muscle and skin.
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We need a new generation of robot bodies
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that is inspired by the elegance,
efficiency, and by the soft materials
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of the designs found in nature.
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And indeed, this has become
the key idea of a new field of research
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called soft robotics.
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My research group
and collaborators around the world
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are using soft components
inspired by muscle and skin
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to build robots with agility and dexterity
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that comes closer and closer
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to the astonishing capabilities
of the organisms found in nature.
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I've always been particularly inspired
by biological msucle.
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Now, that's not surprising.
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I'm also Austrian, and I know that I sound
a bit like Arnie, the Terminator.
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(Laughter)
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Biological muscle is a true
masterpiece of evolution.
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It can heal up the damage
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and it's tightly integrated
with sensory neurons
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for feedback on motion
and the environment.
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It can contract fast enough
to power the high-speed wings
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of a hummingbird,
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it can grow strong enough
to move an elephant,
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and it's adaptable enough
to be used in the extremely versatile arms
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of an octopus,
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an animal that can squeeze
its entire body through tiny holes.
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Actuators are for robots
what muscles are for animals:
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key components of the body
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that enable movement
and interaction with the world.
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So if we could build soft actuators,
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or artificial muscles,
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that are as versatile, adaptable,
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and could have the same performance
as the real thing,
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we could build almost any type of robot
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for almost any type of use.
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Not surprisingly, people
have tried for many decades
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to replicate the astonishing capabilities
of muscle, but it's been really hard.
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About 10 years ago,
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when I did my PhD back in Austria,
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my colleagues and I rediscovered
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what is likely one of the very first
publications on artificial muscle,
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published in 1880
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on the shape and volume changes
of dialectric bodies cost by electricity,
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published by German physicist
Wilhem Röntgen.
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Most of you know him
as the discoverer of the x-rays.
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Following his instructions,
we used a pair of needles.
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We connected it to a high-voltage source
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and we placed it near
a transparent piece of rubber
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that was pre-stretched
onto a plastic frame.
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When we switched on the voltage,
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the rubber reformed,
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and just like our biceps
flexes our arm,
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the rubber flexed the plastic frame.
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It looks like magic.
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The needles don't even touch the rubber.
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Now, having two such needles
is not a practical way
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of operating artificial muscles,
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but this amazing experiment
got me hooked on the topic.
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I wanted to create new ways
to build artificial muscles
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that would work well
for real world applications.
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For the next years, I worked
on a number of different technologies
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that all showed promise,
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but they all had remaining challenges
that are hard to overcome.
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In 2015,
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when I started my own lab at CU-Boulder,
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I wanted to try an entirely new idea.
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I wanted to combine
the high speed and efficiency
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of electrically driven actuators
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with the versatility
of soft, fluidic activators.
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Therefore, I thought,
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maybe I can try using
really old science in a new way.
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The diagram you see here
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shows an effect called Maxwell stress.
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When you take two metal plates
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and place them in a container
filled with oil
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and then switch on a voltage,
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the Maxwell stress forces the oil
up in between the two plates,
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and that's what you see here.
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So the key idea was,
can we use this effect
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to push around oil
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contained in soft stretchy structures?
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And indeed, this worked surprisingly well,
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quite honestly much better
than I expected.
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Together with my
outstanding team of students,
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we used this idea as a starting point
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to develop a new technology
called HASEL artificial muscles.
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HASELs are gentle enough
to pick up a raspberry
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without damaging it.
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They can expand and contract
like real muscle.
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And they can be operated
faster than the real thing.
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They can also be scaled up
to deliver large forces.
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Here you see them lifting
a gallon filled with water.
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They can be used to drive a robotic arm,
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and they can even
self-sense their position.
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HASELs can be used
for very precise movement,
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but they can also deliver
very fluidic, muscle-like movement
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and bursts of power
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to shoot up a ball into the air.
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When submerged in oil,
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HASEL artificial muscles
can be made invisible.
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So how do HASEL artificial muscles work?
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You might be surprised.
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They're based on very inexpensive,
easily available materials.
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You can even try,
and I recommend it,
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the main principle at home.
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Take a few Ziploc bags
and fill them with olive oil.
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Try to push out air bubbles
as much as you can.
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Now take a glass plate and place it
on one side of the bag.
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When you press down,
you see the bag contract.
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Now the amount of contraction
is easy to control.
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When you take a small weight,
you get a small contraction.
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With a medium weight,
we get a medium contraction.
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And with a large weight,
you get a large contraction.
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Now for HASELs, the only change
is to replace the force of your hand
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or the weight with an electrical force.
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HASEL stands for "hydraulically amplified
self-healing electrostatic actuators."
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Here you see a geometry
called "piano HASEL actuators,"
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one of many possible designs.
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Again, you take a flexible polymer
such as our Ziploc bag,
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you fill it with an insulating liquid
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such as olive oil,
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and now, instead of the glass plate,
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you place an electrical conductor
on one side of the pouch.
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To create something that looks
more like a muscle fiber,
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you can connect a few pouches together
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and attached a weight on one side.
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Next, we apply voltage.
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Now, the electric field
starts acting on the liquid.
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It displaces the liquid,
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and it forces the muscle to contract.
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Here you see a completed
piano HASEL actuator,
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and how it expands and contracts
when voltage is applied.
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Viewed from the side,
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you can really see those pouches
take a more cylindrical shape,
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such as we saw with the Ziploc bags.
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We can also place a few
such muscle fibers next to each other
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to create something that looks
even more like a muscle
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that also contracts and expands
in cross section.
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These HASELs here are lifting a weight
that's about 200 times heavier
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than their own weight.
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Here you see one of our newest designs,
called ?? HASELs
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and how they expand and contract.
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They can be operated incredibly fast,
reaching superhuman speeds.
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They are even powerful enough
to jump off the ground.
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(Laughter)
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Overall, HASELs show promise
to become the first technology
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that matches or exceeds the performance
of biological muscle
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while being compatible
with large-scale manufacturing.
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This is also a very young technology.
We are just getting started.
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We have many ideas how to
drastically improve performance,
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using new materials and new designs
to reach a level of performance
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beyond biological muscle and also beyond
traditional rigid electric motors.
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Moving towards more complex designs
of HASEL for bio-inspired robotics,
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here you see our artificial scorpion
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that can use its tail to hunt prey,
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in this case, a rubber balloon.
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(Laughter)
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Going back to our initial inspiration,
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the versatility of octopus arms
and elephant trunks,
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we are now able to build
soft continuum actuators
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that come closer and closer
to the capabilities of the real thing.
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I am most excited about
the practical applications
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of HASEL artificial muscles.
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They'll enable soft robotic devices
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that can improve the quality of life.
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Soft robotics will enable a new generation
of more life-like prosthetics
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for people who have lost
parts of their bodies.
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Here you see some HASELs in my lab,
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early testing, driving
a prosthetic finger.
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One day, we may even merge
our bodies with robotic parts.
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I know that sounds very scary at first,
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but when I think about my grandparents
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and the way they become
more dependent on others
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to perform simple everyday tasks
such as using the restroom alone,
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they often feel like
they're becoming a burden.
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With soft robotic, we will be able
to enhance and restore
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agility and dexterity
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and thereby help older people
maintain autonomy
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for longer parts of their lives.
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Maybe we can call that
"robotics for anti-aging"
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or even a next stage of human evolution.
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Unlike the traditional rigid counterparts,
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soft life-like robots will safely operate
near people and help us at home.
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Soft robotics is a very young field.
We're just getting started.
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I hope that many young people
from many different backgrounds
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join us on this exciting journey
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and help shape the future of robotics
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by introducing new concepts
inspired by nature.
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If we do this right,
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we can improve the quality of life
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for all of us.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)