EFM TECHNOLOGY
A 2mm fiber with a hydraulic pump and artificial muscle built in. Apply voltage — it contracts like real muscle. Silent, untethered, no motors. This is the core actuation path for QKAI's robotics R&D.
MIT MEDIA LAB · SCIENCE ROBOTICS 2026
Video credit: MIT Media Lab · Science Robotics 2026 · CC BY 4.0 License · DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.ady6438
PERFORMANCE
50 W/kg
POWER DENSITY
20%
CONTRACTION
0.3s
RESPONSE TIME
2mm
FIBER DIAMETER
HOW IT WORKS
Platinum electrodes inside the fiber create charge injection in dielectric fluid. Coulomb force drives the liquid — a hydraulic micropump integrated into a 2mm fiber.
A flexible TPU tube wrapped in a braided nylon sleeve. When pressurised, the tube expands and the braid converts radial expansion into axial contraction — just like muscle.
Two antagonistic muscles connected through one pump in a sealed loop. One contracts, the other extends — exactly like biceps and triceps.
QKAI'S PLAN
Building the complete analytical EFM model in Python/JAX — pump pressure equations, McKibben hyperelastic model, dynamic response. Our foundation for university collaboration.
Engaging with UNSW Robotics. Bringing simulation code and the ORCA Hand prototype to manufacture EFM fibers in a proper lab environment.
Manufacture EFM fiber bundles and replace servo motors on one finger. Benchmark EFM vs Dynamixel on the same joint — force, precision, and noise.
All 17 DOF driven by EFM fiber muscles. A silent, lightweight, truly biomimetic dexterous hand — the world's first.
WHY QKAI IS DOING THIS
Motor + tendon is the current mainstream (TRL 8-9), but has a clear ceiling — noisy, heavy, mechanically complex
EFM sits at TRL 3-4, a wide-open space. No team in the world has built a complete dexterous hand with EFM
QKAI's edge = EFM dexterous hand + proprietary physics models + AI Agent control experience
EFM technology is based on research published by MIT Media Lab in Science Robotics (2026). DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.ady6438