Scientists at ETH have created robot actuators containing living skeletal muscle tissue, grown from mouse cells, integrated with 3D-printed hydrogel scaffolds. The obvious next step is to build creepy, life-sized humanoids covered in living tissue that look indistinguishable from actual humans – exactly like the ‘cybernetic organisms’, or robots, in the Terminator films. (See video below.)
Lab-grown skeletal muscle tissue can contract, but the movement is often so slight that it is barely visible. This poses a problem for biohybrid robots designed to move using living muscles.
Researchers at ETH Zurich have now demonstrated that it is not just the amount of muscle tissue that matters, but above all how the muscle and the artificial scaffold interact.
Their bioactuators combine living skeletal muscle tissue, grown from mouse muscle cells, with a soft hydrogel scaffold. This soft, water-rich material bends and stretches like living tissue. [Read more…] about ETH scientists set to bring Terminator-style robots to life with lab-grown muscles