Chewing it over

A robot that chews like a human has been developed to test dental materials.

Mechanical engineers and dentists from the University of Bristol developed a robot that can replicate the movements and forces involved in natural chewing action. The robot is based on a three-dimensional mechanism with six linear actuators that reproduce the motion and forces sustained by teeth in a human mouth.

The robot could replace clinical trials, which are often expensive and time-consuming. By the time a new material has been tested, it is often obsolete.

The technology has the potential to make a big impact on the dental market. The UK spends around £2.5bn each year on dental materials to replace or strengthen teeth.

The University of Bristol researchers were challenged to design a robot that could effectively mimic a human's chewing action. The human jaw is a powerful and complex piece of natural machinery, allowing a person to chew in many different ways. The lower jaw and the teeth move with six degrees of freedom, translating and rotating along each of the Cartesian axes.