US Patent 7994685 - Artificial nanomuscle

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7994685.html

This patent from Czech Technical University in Prague presents a new approach to creating nanoscale actuators which replicate the behavior of natural muscles. Claim 1 reads:

1. An electromechanical transducer comprising

sliding nanoactuators with at least one nanometric dimension,

wherein the electromechanical transducer converts electrical energy to mechanical work by a mutual slip in artificial actin filaments A between artificial myosin filaments M, the artificial actin filaments being connected to artificial Z-plates,

the artificial myosin filaments having artificial myosin heads hanging on artificial filaments N, and

wherein a cyclic change of repulsive electrostatic and attractive Van der Waals interactions between the artificial myosin heads and the artificial myosin filaments M induces swinging of the artificial myosin heads and drives the artificial Z-plates toward each other.