As one reader points out on the comments board of a related Design News article, combining living tissue with mechanical components sounds like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein story written almost 200 years ago. But the Medusoid jellyfish-like creature described in that article, which combines engineered rat heart muscle tissue with a silicone muscle structure, isn't alone. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania have engineered skeletal muscles they will use to build robots that move like animals -- or people.
The team has genetically engineered muscle cells that flex in response to light. They plan to use these to create small, lightweight robots that are highly articulated, and that can move with the strength, flexibility, and fine motor movements of living creatures. The researchers are among the still small number of engineers in the emerging field of biorobotics.
Harry Asada, a professor of engineering in MIT's department of mechanical engineering, along with postdoc Mahmut Selman Sakar and professor Roger Kamm, chose skeletal muscle for their robot design because it's stronger than cardiac or smooth muscle. Using electricity to stimulate the muscle tissue to make it move -- a technique used for the Medusoid as well as Frankenstein's monster -- could bog down small robots with electrodes and their required power supply. Instead, the researchers turned to optogenetics, which involves genetically modifying neurons so they respond to short light pulses.
To date, optogenetic techniques had been used to stimulate cardiac muscle with laser light, but not skeletal muscle. The MIT team cultured skeletal muscle cells and genetically modified them to express a light-activated protein. After fusing the cells into long muscle fibers, they exposed them to blue light in 20-millisecond pulses, making them contract, both individually and together. When a beam of light shone on one fiber, only that fiber contracted. Larger beams directed to multiple fibers made them all contract simultaneously. Asada then expanded the technique to three-dimensional muscle tissue, with similar results. Watch a video demonstrating the genetically engineered skeletal muscles here.
The MIT team worked with Christopher Chen, a professor in Penn's department of bioengineering, who designed a micromechanical chip to test static and dynamic stresses on the light-sensitive skeletal tissue. The engineered tissue is capable of a wide range of motions, making it useful for a number of applications besides robotics, such as medical devices and navigation. One medical robotic device might be a robotic endoscope, said Asada. "We can put 10 degrees of freedom in a limited space, less than one millimeter," he said. "There's no actuator that can do that kind of job right now."
The researchers describe their results in an article (subscription only) in the journal Lab on a Chip. Other team members include MIT's Devin Neal, Yinqing Li and Ron Weiss, and Penn's Thomas Boudou and Michael Borochin. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the RESBIO Technology Resource for Polymeric Biomaterials, the Center for Engineering Cells and Regeneration of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology.
This is fascinating stuff, Ann. I find it amazing that muscle tissue is the engeineering answer to moving a robot. You're covering a very exciting field.
Rob, I agree. The field of robotics is constantly changing. The days of mechanized machines are becoming quite eloquent and sophisticated using bioengineering as the catalyst in the design process. Although I'm not an advocate of creating artifical beings, the ability to create robots with human dexterity is somewhat intriguing. As always, great article Ann!
Well I have to admit that this is a little bit freaky, but still pretty cool. Who knows what this means for the future, I suppose that some Cyborg, hybrid robot in 2050 will owe it's movement to these early developments.
Thanks, Rob and mrdon. I, too, was surprised to see yet another science fiction idea coming into reality with this subject. Like Scott, I think it's kinda freaky, but also fascinating.
Ann, it would seem as if keeping the tissue in the nutrient bath would would defeat the purpose of this technology - namely eliminating the space required for more conventional motion control.
Any idea about the life-span, or is the fact that it's being "fed" cause cell division for an indefinite amount of time, thereby reproducing itself? I'm running a little low on my memory of cellular biology.
Good points, Mrdon. Interesting how bioengineering has entered the robotics world. We could see a world of soft robots that are made of living tissue. Quite amazing.
Rob, engineers are finding inspiration from nature and the future direction, it seems, is to package their basic behaviors in bio-mechanical machines to medically aid humans. Truly fascinating stuff!
Rob, studying nature can provide inspiration where a tough engineer problem can be resolved within the Eureka moment by the movement of a cockroach. Cool stuff!!
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