Raphael Thys
SCIENTISTS have developed remote-controlled robots using mouse muscle cells, a new study claims.
The pea-sized robots are a unique combination of technology, lab-grown muscle, and light, according to Inverse.
Scientists have developed remote-controlled robots using mouse muscle cellsCredit: Yongdeok Kim / Bashir Lab at UIUC
The bots require neither batteries nor power-source wires to function
Specifically, the bot comprises mouse muscle cells, soft 3D-printed structures known as scaffolds, and wireless LED control chips.
Because of the robot's complex part-machine, part-muscle body, it can be controlled via a remote.
This means it requires neither batteries nor power-source wires to function.
What's more, the bot can move fast enough to set a new record for other biohybrid bots at .83 millimeters per second.
ROBO COP Huge surge in demand for security robots that 'spy' on humans revealed by experts
War robots will 'kill civilians' unless we make AI less sexist and hateful
Details of the robot are expanded in a new paper published in the journal Science Robotics.
How does the robot work?
The biohybrid is able to be remote-controlled because its mouse muscle cells react to external stimuli like light or heat, Futurism explained.
Therefore, shooting light at the LED controllers indicates to the robot to move forward.
"You can basically beam energy into the chip," Mattia Gazzola, co-author and mechanical engineer at the University of Illinois, told Inverse.
"So that means that you don’t need power onboard," Gazzola added.
In order for this to be possible, the team said they had to "really redesign and rethink our structure so that the different components could work well together."
What's next?
This study is just the beginning of what's to come with regard to organic robots.
That said, the field of biohybrid robots is still in its infancy, and researchers have a long way to go.
"The main disadvantage at the moment is that as a technology, it’s not as mature as its artificial counterparts," Gazzola says.
For that reason, Gazzola is hoping to grow and integrate neural cell systems into biohybrids.
This would help the bots make basic computations on their own and maybe even steer themselves.