Pneumatic artificial muscles conventional electric motors and hydraulic cylinders. Pneumatic artificial muscles Pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs) are contractile or extensional devices operated by pressurized air filling a pneumatic bladder. In an approximation of human muscles, PAMs are usually grouped in pairs: one agonist and one antagonist. PAMs were first developed (under the name of "McKibben Artificial Muscles") in the 1950s for use in artificial limbs. The Bridgestone rubber company (Japan) commercialized the idea in the 1980s under the name of Rubbertuators. The retraction strength of the PAM is limited by the sum total strength of individual fibers in the woven shell. The exertion
The body in traditional Chinese medicine The body in traditional Chinese medicine The model of the body in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has the following elements: Every diagnosis is a "Pattern of disharmony" that affects one or more organs, such as "Spleen Qi Deficiency" or "Liver Fire Blazing" or "Invasion of the Stomach by Cold", and every treatment is centered on correcting the disharmony. The traditional Chinese model is concerned with function. Thus, the TCM Spleen is not a specific piece of flesh, but an aspect of function related to transformation and transportation within the body, and of the mental functions of thinking and studying. Indeed,