Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Design Example: Frog Muscle Response01:14

Design Example: Frog Muscle Response

321
A student is tasked to work on an intriguing experiment involving an RL (Resistor-Inductor) circuit to study the muscle response of a frog's leg to electrical stimulation. The RL circuit plays a crucial role in this experiment, providing the means to control and measure the electrical impulses that trigger muscle contraction.
When the switch connecting the RL circuit is closed, a brief muscle contraction is observed. This is because, at a steady state, the inductor acts like a short...
321

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Single-cell multiomics of neuron activation reveals context-specific genetics of brain disorders.

Science (New York, N.Y.)·2026
Same author

Treatment of Huntington's disease with a pan-HTT-targeting CRISPR nuclease.

Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy·2026
Same author

Substrate-field-modulated remote-van der Waals hybrid epitaxy in transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures.

Nano convergence·2026
Same author

Female iPSC X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) erosion and its transcriptomic effects during CRISPR gene editing and neural differentiation.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same author

Biomechanical 3D tumor models on a micro-milled high-throughput force sensor array.

Biofabrication·2026
Same author

High-speed in situ tomographic imaging at lab scale.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 15, 2025

Cardiac Muscle-cell Based Actuator and Self-stabilizing Biorobot - PART 1
11:22

Cardiac Muscle-cell Based Actuator and Self-stabilizing Biorobot - PART 1

Published on: July 11, 2017

8.2K

A forward-engineered, muscle-driven soft robotic swimmer.

William Cartwright Drennan1,2, Onur Aydin1,2,3, Bashar Emon1,2

  • 1Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.

Science Advances
|July 16, 2025
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed a novel muscle-powered biohybrid swimmer. This innovative design achieves significantly higher speeds, opening possibilities for intermediate-Reynolds number aquatic robotics.

More Related Videos

Bioinspired Soft Robot with Incorporated Microelectrodes
08:24

Bioinspired Soft Robot with Incorporated Microelectrodes

Published on: February 28, 2020

8.9K
Cardiac Muscle Cell-based Actuator and Self-stabilizing Biorobot - Part 2
09:33

Cardiac Muscle Cell-based Actuator and Self-stabilizing Biorobot - Part 2

Published on: May 9, 2017

8.8K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Sep 15, 2025

Cardiac Muscle-cell Based Actuator and Self-stabilizing Biorobot - PART 1
11:22

Cardiac Muscle-cell Based Actuator and Self-stabilizing Biorobot - PART 1

Published on: July 11, 2017

8.2K
Bioinspired Soft Robot with Incorporated Microelectrodes
08:24

Bioinspired Soft Robot with Incorporated Microelectrodes

Published on: February 28, 2020

8.9K
Cardiac Muscle Cell-based Actuator and Self-stabilizing Biorobot - Part 2
09:33

Cardiac Muscle Cell-based Actuator and Self-stabilizing Biorobot - Part 2

Published on: May 9, 2017

8.8K

Area of Science:

  • Biohybrid robotics
  • Biomechanical engineering
  • Soft robotics

Background:

  • Biohybrid robotics leverages biological components for advanced functionalities.
  • Understanding locomotion at small scales is crucial for bio-inspired design.
  • Previous biohybrid swimmers faced limitations in speed and efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To design and fabricate a muscle-powered, flagellate biohybrid swimmer.
  • To investigate the integration of nonlinear compliant mechanisms with biological muscle actuators.
  • To enhance swimming speed and efficiency through optimized design and biological component proximity.

Main Methods:

  • Fabrication of a compliant mechanism utilizing nonlinear mechanics.
  • Integration of a muscle ring and motor neurons for actuation.
  • Analysis of anchor stiffness effects on muscle tension and contractility.
  • Flow field imaging to verify the swimming mechanism and quantify speed.

Main Results:

  • Muscle tension remained stable within a specific range of anchor stiffnesses (around 1 micronewton per micrometer).
  • Proximity of motor neurons improved muscle contractility by fourfold.
  • Achieved a peak swimming speed of 0.58 body lengths per minute (86.8 micrometers per second), two orders of magnitude faster than previous designs.
  • Demonstrated an inertia-driven propulsion mechanism validated by flow field imaging.

Conclusions:

  • The developed biohybrid swimmer achieves unprecedented speeds for its class.
  • Nonlinear compliant mechanisms and optimized biological integration are key to enhanced performance.
  • This work paves the way for a new generation of intermediate-Reynolds number biohybrid swimmers.