FAQs

1. What is an artificial muscle?
Artificial muscle is a generic term used for materials or devices that can reversibly contract, expand, or rotate within one component due to an external stimulus (such as voltage, current, pressure or temperature).

2. Why do we use fishing line and sewing thread?
Because the combination is superstrong and more importantly, inexpensive.

3. Where can we apply the artificial muscle fibres?
We believe such artificial muscles might be used in exoskeletons and prosthetics, selectively breathable clothing, automated environmental control systems, and humanoid robots.

4. How can the artificial muscle fibres be applied on the windows?
They are thermally-responsive muscle fibres which change their physical properties with temperature. They will contract when hot and expand when cold. So, during hot weather, the muscle fibres which have been attached on the windows will pull up the window to open it.

5. How can the artificial muscle fibres which have been attached on the windows be applied in the Greenhouse?
We will put the windows on the most strategic part of the Greenhouse where sunlight can point directly towards the windows during afternoon and heat the muscle fibres at maximum rate. Then, the windows will be opened automatically.
This will help to improve the ventilation system of the Greenhouse, which is important to control the temperature, humidity 02-CO2 cycle and air movement. As a result, the plants in the Greenhouse will grow optimally.

6. What are the suitable window designs that might be used in our project?
After a few consideration, we chose the Jalousie design of a window that is much easier to imply the thermally responsive muscle fiber.