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Hermes Bloomfield-Gadêlha, Mathematician, University of Bristol

Muscle coordination can be mimicked by electric motors – it could lead to improved robots

mybox / Shutterstock

People often take their muscles for granted. They pick up a bag, tighten a grip, climb a hill, hold a cup of coffee and the body quietly adjusts force, speed and position without the person ever thinking about it.

Muscle turns chemical energy into movement. It is able to produce force smoothly and reliably, even though it is built from huge numbers of tiny molecular components. When the load changes, muscles don’t simply wobble or fail. They adapt.

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