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Bioinspired Soft Robot with Incorporated Microelectrodes

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Wirelessly Powered 3D Printed Hierarchical Biohybrid Robots with Multiscale Mechanical Properties.

Hiroyuki Tetsuka^1,2, Lorenzo Pirrami³, Ting Wang¹

¹Division of Engineering in Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 65 Lansdowne Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139 USA.

Advanced Functional Materials

|October 31, 2022

Summary

Researchers developed untethered, wirelessly controlled biohybrid soft robots using flexible electronics and engineered muscle tissue. These robots achieve swimming motions for potential biomedical applications.

Keywords:

3D printing biohybrid soft robots wireless powering

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Area of Science:

Biohybrid soft robotics
Biomedical engineering
Materials science

Background:

Flexible and stretchable electronics offer new fabrication methods for biohybrid soft machines.
Untethered biohybrid soft robots can be developed using wireless bioelectronic devices.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop untethered, wirelessly controllable biohybrid soft robots capable of swimming.
To integrate wirelessly-powered, stretchable cell stimulators into muscle bodies for robotic locomotion.

Main Methods:

Designed wirelessly-powered, stretchable cell stimulators generating up to ~9 V pulses.
Differentiated induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) on 3D printed constructs.
Integrated iPSC-CMs with cell stimulators to create muscle bodies for robots.
Utilized wirelessly modulated electrical frequencies to control robot speed and direction.

Main Results:

Achieved wireless control of swimming motions in biohybrid soft robots.
Replicated native myofiber architecture with enhanced contractibility using iPSC-CMs.
Attained a maximum locomotion speed of ~580 μm/s in larger robots by adjusting pacing frequency.

Conclusions:

Developed a novel platform for untethered biohybrid soft robots.
Demonstrated wireless control of locomotion in biohybrid robots through electrical stimulation of engineered muscle.
Paved the way for advanced biohybrid systems in biomedical applications.