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Ok, if this : "energy power density up to approximately 39 kilowatts/kilogram" holds up, it will change things dramatically. At that power density you can build walking robots which are humanoid and faster and more powerful with enough weight budget left over to carry along power packs. Thanks for the link.

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That also depends on the efficiency. If this requires twice the power as input that it produces mechanically, those power packs would become a lot larger.

I skimmed the paper at http://www.mse.berkeley.edu/~jwu/publications/Liu-AdvMat-201..., but could not find anything about efficiency. that 68 degrees Celsius switching temperature does give me some concerns, though (hm. Bring it to 37 degrees, and this might become very useful for people with muscular dystrophy. Or does that show even more that ik don't really know what I am talking about?)

Would be very surprised if Boston Dynamics (and their Google overlords) are not already eyeing this tech with great interest.

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