The study of soft robotics offer distinct advantages to yesterday’s metal clunkers, in that soft machines have greater locomotion and flexibility, with a potentially lower cost. And, while some people – excluding Ray Kurzweil and friends – could harbor fears about a future in which such robotics are incorporated into human biology, bio-compatible machines have the potential to replace worn out parts of the body. Recent progress has been made in stimulating engineered heart cells through the use of robotics, but we have yet to see much development in skeletal muscle, the primary means for movement in organisms, until now. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign have just published a paper detailing a 3D printed, artificial tendon controlled by real muscle cells. Part 3D printed hydrogel, part mouse muscle, the bio-bots from U of I are miniature muscular cyborgs that might have a huge impact in the fields of medicine and soft robotics
The researchers sought to create soft robotics that did not rely on cumbersome hardware that might carry a risk of bodily rejection. Their solution was to 3D print, using a 3D Systems SLA 3D printer, a flexible hydrogel skeleton with two protruding polls, between which they could seed mouse muscle cells. After placing the skeleton, coated with muscle cells, into a petri dish with a bi-polar electrical field, the team was able to stimulate the muscle cells to contract by giving them an electrical pulse.
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