Muscles and Motors

There are muscles all over the human body, more than 600 of them. So many are needed because they control every movement a human makes. Robots, however, move by using motors and other mechanical devices.

Whether a person is smiling, lifting a book, walking, dancing—any tiny or big movement of the body—they are using a muscle. People sit on their largest muscle all the time. The muscle in the butt—the gluteus maximus—is important for standing and walking. It’s also sometimes called the “main antigravity muscle” because it resists the force of gravity more than all other muscles. The smallest muscle, the stapedius, is only around 0.04 inches (1 mm) long. It’s tucked away inside your ear and helps reduce noise vibrations.