<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><div>Hi Psubbers,</div><div>was looking through a robotics book & came across an actuator called an "air muscle".</div><div>It's basically a balloon with attachments on either end that contracts <span style="font-size: 10pt;">when pressurized </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">with air. </span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 10pt; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Here is an instructable on how to make one.</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent;"><span>http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-air-muscles!/?ALLSTEPS<br></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-size: 13px; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-style: normal;"><span>They are a cheap alternative to a pneumatic cylinder & can generate more lifting force</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-style: normal;"><span>in the 3&1/2 to 6 bar range.</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-style: normal;"><span>As we all carry compressed air, I thought there may be some application that it could be</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;
font-style: normal;"><span>useful for, such as opening the ballast valves remotely or releasing emergency buoys etc.</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-style: normal;"><span>They are used on robotic arms, so perhaps a manipulator could be, or has been made with them.</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-style: normal;"><span>Anybody had any experience with them??? I also found them under fluidic muscle.</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-style: normal;"><span>Alan</span></div><div
style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-style: normal;"><span><br></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-style: normal;"><span><br></span></div><div><br></div></div></body></html>