Prof. Koichi Suzumori received JSME Medal for New Technology

Prof. Koichi Suzumori received JSME Medal for New Technology.

The award winners have succeeded in the continuous production and mass production of pneumatic artificial muscles, known as McKibben-type muscles, by reducing their diameter and improving their performance.
Conventional McKibben-type artificial muscles are a few centimeters in diameter e an outer diameter of a few centimeters, but by devising new materials, design, and manufacturing methods, they have succeeded in producing a thin, long, and flexible artificial muscle with an outer diameter of 2 to 5 mm. By weaving these artificial muscles, they have developed body support suits and rehabilitation orthoses, and have shown the possibility of applications of flexible mechanisms. This artificial muscle has been commercialized by a Tokyo Tech launched venture company, and various research and development projects are being carried out by research institutes and companies in Japan and overseas. For the results of this research and development, they received 2020 JSME Medal for New Technology.