Biorobotics: Nerve and heart muscle cells power mini swimming robots
Nerve and heart muscle cells propel a ray-shaped swimming robot forward. Electrical signals stimulate muscle cells and the robot is controlled remotely.
The biohybrid mini swimming robot swims its laps in a petri dish.
(Image: Hiroyuki Tetsuka (Screenshot))
A research team of bioscientists and roboticists from Brigham and Women's Hospital in the US and the iPrint Institute in Switzerland have jointly developed a mini swimming robot that is powered by ray-like fins with muscle tissue made from nerve and heart muscle cells. The robot uses a processor to stimulate and precisely control the fins.
Biohybrid robots are intended to combine the capabilities of biological creatures with those of robots to create more powerful systems. However, the initial aim is to combine biological tissue with a computer and artificial mechanical parts. In the two studies "Float like a butterfly, swim like a biohybrid neuromuscular robot" and "Wirelessly steerable bioelectronic neuromuscular robots adapting neurocardiac junctions", the researchers describe a biohybrid swimming robot. Both scientific papers have been published in Science Robotics.
In order to produce the ray-like robot, the researchers cultivated motor neurons (nerve cells) and cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells) from human pluripotent stem cells. The cardiomyocytes were stimulated in such a way that they grew into muscle cell tissue on a scaffold modeled on stingray fins. In doing so, they connected with the motor neurons, which led to the formation of electrical synapses.
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Swimming like a ray
The scientists connected some of the motor neurons to a processor to control the small biohybrid swimming robot. The researchers used targeted electrical impulses to stimulate the fins to make wave-like movements for locomotion.
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The scientists were also able to control the fins via Wi-Fi so that either only the left or only the right fin was active. This allowed the robot to change direction and maneuver precisely. It also swam sharp turns. The biorobot reached a maximum speed of 0.52 mm/s ± 0.22 mm/s.
(olb)
