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Updated: Mar 20, 2026
Cardiac Muscle-cell Based Actuator and Self-stabilizing Biorobot - PART 1
Published on: July 11, 2017
Fast-swimming biohybrid OstraBot with self-trained high-strength muscles
Pengyu Chen1, Xuchen Wang1, Jinrun Zhou1
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Abstract:
Limited muscle force generation remains a major bottleneck in developing stronger, faster, and more efficient biohybrid robots. We present a fully autonomous self-training platform that strengthens skeletal muscle tissues by harnessing their robust spontaneous contractions. This approach produced muscle actuators with a maximum force of 7.05 mN and a stress of 8.51 mN/mm2, the highest reported for C2C12-derived muscle actuators. To demonstrate their capabilities, we developed a twin-tail muscle-powered ostraciiform swimming robot, OstraBot, and guided its design using a physiology-based muscle contraction model. Model-informed analysis identified stiffness-frequency combinations that maximized muscle energy output, enabling a top speed of 467 mm/min (15.6 body lengths/min), significantly outperforming previously reported skeletal muscle-powered biohybrid robots. The robot demonstrated strong thrust generation and precise on-off controllability through sound-triggered clapping control. This work establishes a versatile platform for producing high-strength skeletal muscle actuators and quantitatively guiding the robotic design for high-performance biohybrid robots.
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