{"id":121828,"date":"2021-04-22T18:22:17","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T01:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2021\/04\/biohybrid-soft-robot-with-self-stimulating-skeleton-outswims-other-biobots"},"modified":"2021-04-22T18:22:17","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T01:22:17","slug":"biohybrid-soft-robot-with-self-stimulating-skeleton-outswims-other-biobots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2021\/04\/biohybrid-soft-robot-with-self-stimulating-skeleton-outswims-other-biobots","title":{"rendered":"Biohybrid soft robot with self-stimulating skeleton outswims other biobots"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A team of researchers working at Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology has developed a skeletal-muscle-based, biohybrid soft robot that can swim faster than other skeletal-muscle-based biobots. In their paper published in the journal Science Robotics<\/i>,<\/i> the group describes building and testing their soft robot.<\/p>\n

As scientists continue to improve the abilities of soft robots, they have turned to natural materials<\/a> such as animal tissue. To date, most efforts in this area have involved the use of skeletal or cardiac muscles\u2014each have their strengths and weaknesses. Skeletal-muscle-based biobots have, for example, suffered from lack of mobility and strength. In this new effort, the researchers in Spain have developed a new design for a tinyskeletal-muscle-based soft robot<\/a> that overcomes both issues and is therefore able to swim faster than others of its kind.<\/p>\n

To make their biobot, the researchers used a simulation to create a spring-based spine for a swimming creature shaped like an eel. The simulation allowed the researchers to optimize its shape. They then 3D printed the skeleton (which was made of a polymer called PDMS) and used it as a scaffold for growing skeletal muscles. The finished robot<\/a> was approximately 260 micrometers long\u2014its shape allowed for propulsion in just one direction. The biobot moves when given electrical stimulation<\/a>; the charge incites the muscle to contract, which compresses the skeletal spring inside. When the stimulation is removed, the energy in the spring is released, pushing the biobot forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A team of researchers working at Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology has developed a skeletal-muscle-based, biohybrid soft robot that can swim faster than other skeletal-muscle-based biobots. In their paper published in the journal Science Robotics, the group describes building and testing their soft robot. As scientists continue to improve the abilities of soft robots, [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1635,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-materials","category-robotics-ai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121828\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}