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ETH Zurich Creates Biohybrid Actuator Capable of Jumping, Swimming, Walking, and Grasping

2 reports · 2 sources

A research team at ETH Zurich published a study in Nature Communications in which they used computer simulation to co-design mouse skeletal muscle tissue and a soft hydrogel scaffold as an integrated whole, creating a bioactuator about 1.5 centimeters long that can jump, swim, walk, and grasp. The team says the key lies not only in the amount of muscle tissue but also in how the muscle interacts with the artificial scaffold; with similar muscle amounts, its range of motion can be up to 11 times that of existing systems. Subsequent reports say the walking version reaches a speed of 6.2 millimeters per second, about 0.4 body lengths per second, which the study says is the highest speed reported to date for a walking biohybrid robot. The scaffold is manufactured using light-curing 3D printing technology (xolography), taking about one minute each. Such robots currently still must be immersed in nutrient solution for the muscle tissue to survive and cannot operate outside the laboratory environment. Researcher Katzschmann says larger-scale systems would require an artificial vascular system to deliver oxygen and nutrients and remove waste.