Researchers integrate living muscles in robot

In a change of events, researchers have created a robotic device that contains living tissue inside it.

Researchers from University of Tokyo have successfully created a new biohybrid robot, a robotic device that integrates living tissue inside it and remained functional for over a week, read their study published in the journal Science Robotics.

The first step for these biohybrid robots was to build up a robot skeleton which was created using 3D-printed resin. The robot had a joint and anchors where the living tissue could be attached. Electrodes were used for simulating the living muscle making it contract.

Stem cells to help grow replacement body organs

The next step, as per Futurism, consisted of building the living muscle. Myoblasts were used for this, which is a kind of stem cell that ultimately matures into various types of muscle cells. These cells were incorporated into hydrogel sheets, holes were poked into the sheets for attaching them to the skeleton’s anchors. Few stripped structures were added to encourage the muscle fibers for growing between the anchors.

“Once we had built the muscles, we successfully used them as antagonistic pairs in the robot, with one contracting and the other expanding, just like in the body. The fact that they were exerting opposing forces on each other stopped them shrinking and deteriorating, like in previous studies,” study corresponding author Shoji Takeuchi said.

The robot’s, however, only move is bending is fingertip up and down. Tests were conducted on the robot that including picking up and placing a ring. Two robots, in harmony, were able to pick up a square frame. Researchers believe that though it might have limited uses for now, it can have more practical uses in the future, wrote Science Daily.

Video Courtesy: ScienceVio

“Our findings show that, using this antagonistic arrangement of muscles, these robots can mimic the actions of a human finger. If we can combine more of these muscles into a single device, we should be able to reproduce the complex muscular interplay that allow hands, arms, and other parts of the body to function,” said lead author Yuya Morimoto.

These robots could also be used in pharmaceutical industry where it can be used to test drugs or conduct other experiments on the muscles of biohybrid robots, which could reduce the need for animal test subjects.