Key Findings
Exynergy, a startup spun off from Professor Ning Xi’s team at the University of Hong Kong, has developed an innovative artificial muscle leveraging “Shear-Thickening Gel.” This artificial muscle precisely responds to neural signals, delivering accurate compensatory power to address muscle weakness in the elderly. The system achieves an impressive 95% energy recovery efficiency, ±0.1° positioning accuracy, wide environmental adaptability from -40°C to 80°C, and an excellent fatigue life of over 2 million cycles with only 3% attenuation, setting new standards for elderly mobility assistance technology.
Technical / Clinical Details
Shear-thickening gel is a type of non-Newtonian fluid whose viscosity increases in response to external shear force. By integrating this property into artificial muscles, the system remains flexible yet can exhibit high stiffness and force when required. The gel is designed to detect subtle neural signals and instantly react to augment muscle strength. This allows for real-time and precise provision of necessary assistance when elderly individuals perform actions like walking or standing up. The high energy recovery efficiency of 95% enables smaller and longer-lasting batteries, enhancing its practicality as a wearable device. Furthermore, the ±0.1° positioning accuracy is crucial for medical and care applications requiring fine motor control. Stable operation across extreme temperatures and a fatigue life enduring millions of cycles ensure product reliability for long-term repeated use.
Background & Context
With global aging progressing, maintaining and improving the mobility of the elderly has become a significant societal challenge. Current assistive devices and robots often face issues of bulkiness, weight, or high cost. Artificial muscle technology is anticipated as a next-generation assistive technology offering lighter weight and more natural movements. Exynergy’s shear-thickening gel artificial muscle, by incorporating biomimetic principles with high efficiency, precision, and durability, has the potential to overcome these challenges and significantly contribute to enhancing the Quality of Life (QOL) for the elderly.
Strategic Significance & Outlook
This shear-thickening gel artificial muscle technology holds potential applications not only for elderly mobility assistance devices but also for rehabilitation robots, industrial assist suits, and next-generation soft robotics in general. Exynergy is expected to expand its market by developing various wearable devices and robotic products based on this core technology. Particularly, integrating with data-driven AI to provide personalized assistance tailored to individual users’ physical conditions and needs will be the next crucial step. This will contribute to creating a society where the elderly can maintain an independent lifestyle for longer.
Source: https://www.163.com/dy/article/L8PN0J1T0553CPG3.html
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