Terminator moves step closer to reality as scientists flex potent muscle

An artificial muscle that can lift 1000 times its own weight has been created, laying the groundwork for Terminator-like humanoid robots.

Scientists used a 3D printing technique to create the rubber-like synthetic muscle that expands and contracts like its biological counterpart.

Heated by a small electric current, the material was capable of expanding to nine times its normal size.

It demonstrated enormous strength, having a strain density - the amount of energy stored in each gram of a stretched elastic body - 15 times greater than natural muscle.

The device, described as a "soft actuator", was able to lift 1000 times its own weight, said the researchers.

Hod Lipson, from the Creative Machines laboratory at Columbia University in New York, said: "We've been making great strides towards making robot minds, but robot bodies are still primitive.

"This is a big piece of the puzzle and, like biology, the new actuator can be shaped and reshaped a thousand ways. We've overcome one of the final barriers to making lifelike robots."

Artificial muscles may not only be used in robots but also sensitive surgical devices and a host of other applications where gripping and manipulation is important.

The long-term aim is to accelerate the artificial muscle's response time and link it to an artificially intelligent control system, said the researchers.