University of Tokyo 3D-prints artificial muscles and tendons into a full-scale robotic leg
CyberRobooo · x · 2026-11-05
Following Clone Robotics, University of Tokyo researchers are exploring another path to human-like robots: building artificial muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Using parametric design and 3D-printed flexible TPU structures, the team created a full-scale musculoskeletal robotic leg where different printed geometries reproduce different mechanical properties, letting muscle-, tendon-, and ligament-like structures work together. The leg has shown coordinated joint movements and alternating steps, though it still relies on external support. While most humanoids are built around motors, gearboxes, and rigid joints, this points toward recreating the human musculoskeletal architecture — possibly an early branch of humanoid robotics.
Related event: University of Tokyo 3D-Prints Life-Size Musculoskeletal Robot Leg(4 posts)→
More from Embodied
- Corebrum OS adds built-in VNC screen share, demoed remote-viewing an NVIDIA Thor robot from a Mac — chrismatthieu · 2026-11-05
- NerF Author Ben Mildenhall Teases Mystery AI Gadget With Robot Icon and 8:00 Display — XRarchitect · 2026-11-05
- KAIST's H2RB transfers human demonstrations to robots, boosting object transfer from 8.0 to 51.8 — kaist-ai · 2026-11-05
- New AI glasses UI concept demo shows off futuristic interface design — AnhPhuNguyen1 · 2026-11-05
- Berkeley project uses pretrained base policy's support to guide exploration for fast online adaptation — abhishekunique7 · 2026-11-05
- "Robotics simulation platform" startups are a dead end — agents already removed the need — carlosdponx · 2026-11-05