Biological hybrid robots: In addition to metals and plastics, robots can also have living cells and tissues.

When it comes to robots, what emerges from our minds is usually metal and plastic robots. This kind of robot is a representative of traditional robots, but with the development of science and technology, more and more robots are out of the laboratory. This hard material robot may cause harm to humans that touch them. For example, when a flying robot comes to you, you will surely dodge subconsciously, fearing bloody injuries.

Nowadays, more and more researchers are beginning to find ways to make robots softer and more adorable, more and more like animals. For those robots equipped with conventional engines, this means that they have to put on muscles or put springs on the engine. For example, installing a shock-absorbing spring on the Roomba cleaning robot can reduce its damage to users.

However, there is now another way for the team to take another approach to make robots more harmless: Combine animal tissue with robots. They are vigorously creating robots driven by bio-muscle tissue and cells. These devices can be powered by electricity or light, allowing the cells to bind to bones, allowing them to swim or crawl. These robots are free to move and are as soft as animals. They are safer for users and the environment than traditional robots. In addition, they not only look like animals, their physiology is more like animals and they need nutrients instead of batteries to supply energy. Therefore, they are also lighter than traditional robots.

Create a bio-robot

To create a biological robot, researchers first extract the heart or skeletal muscles of rats or chickens. If the matrix is ​​a polymer, then the equipment they create is a biological hybrid robot: a hybrid robot that consists of natural and artificial materials.

If you simply place the cells in a shaped bone, the cells can begin to grow unbridled. This means that when the researchers use current to move the cells, the direction of pressure on the cells will be arbitrary, which will greatly reduce the efficiency of the device.

Because, in order to make better use of the energy of cells, researchers began to turn their attention to miniature imaging. They use 3D printing to create a specific bone model so that once placed into the cell, the cells will grow according to the shape of the bone. In this way, the cells break the state of chaotic growth and increase the efficiency of equipment molding.

Inspired by animals

In addition to biological hybrid robots, researchers have also created pure biological robots. The raw materials for these robots are entirely derived from animals (such as collagen in biological skin) rather than some polymers, some of which can crawl or swim in an electric field. Researchers take inspiration from medical tissue engineering techniques and use long rectangular arms or cantilevers to push them forward.

Other researchers have drawn inspiration from nature to create biologically-driven biological hybrid robots. For example, a research team from California Institute of Technology got its inspiration from jellyfish and developed a biological hybrid robot. The team called this robot “Jellyfish Robot”. It has arms that can circle the city. They call it “Jellyfish Robot.” It has a circle of arms around it. Each arm is engraved with protein material. The miniature model is like the muscle of a living jellyfish. When the tissue shrinks, the arms bend inwards, pushing the bio-blend robot forward in nutrient-rich fluids.

Recently, researchers have demonstrated how to control biological hybrid robots. A team at Harvard University uses genetically modified heart cells to swim in a bionic robot that resembles a manta. These heart cells respond differently depending on the frequency of light, and the frequencies of cells in different locations are also different.

When the researchers used different light to illuminate the robot, the cells contracted and sent electrical signals to cells in different locations in the manta ray. This contractile force was transmitted along the robot's body and pushed the robot forward. Researchers have been able to use different frequencies of light to control the robot to turn left or right. If you increase the intensity of the light, the contractile force generated by the corresponding cell will become stronger, so that the researcher can control the robot to move around.

There is a long way to go

Although human beings have achieved great success in the field of biological hybrid robots, there is still a long way to go before these devices can get out of the laboratory. The lifespan of current biological hybrid robots is still relatively limited, and the power output is not large, which limits their speed and ability to complete various tasks. Robots made from mammalian or bird animal cells are also very demanding on environmental conditions.

For example, the ambient temperature must be close to the biological body temperature, and the cells also need to be nourished regularly with nutrient-rich fluids. To solve this problem, researchers have come up with two methods.

One of the solutions is to package these biological hybrid robots so that the body is not damaged by the external environment and can always infiltrate the nutrient solution.

Another solution is to use a more robust cell tissue as an actuator. Case Western Reserve University is studying hard-sea creatures and the use of their cells to make biological hybrid robot actuators. Because sea snails live in the intertidal zone, they can withstand temperature and environmental salt concentrations that change dramatically throughout the day. After the ebb tide, the sea snails will be trapped in the blisters left by the tide. When the sun rises, the ambient temperature will continue to rise. After the water in the leeches is evaporated, the salt concentration in the surrounding environment will continue to rise. When it rains, the situation is just the opposite. The concentration of salt in the surrounding environment will decrease because it is diluted with rain. When the tide comes again, sea snails can be liberated from the otters. Therefore, the sea snails have formed a very hard tissue in the process of evolution to adapt to this changing environment.

We have been able to use the living tissue of the sea snail to control the action of the biological hybrid robot, which shows that we can use this extremely resistant tissue to develop more robust biological robots. This biorobot can lift small pieces weighing about 1.5 inches long and 1 inch wide.

Another important problem encountered in the development of biological robots now is that such devices lack an onboard control system. Engineers now control them through external electric fields or light. In order to develop a fully automated biological hybrid robot, we also need a controller that can directly interact with muscle tissue and provide a sensor signal input for a biological hybrid robot. One of the ideas is to use neurons or nerve clusters as tissue controllers.

This is why we are so optimistic about the application of sea snails in this field. This sea snail has been used as a model system for neurobiology research for decades. People have made quite a lot of research on the relationship between its nervous system and muscles. This makes it possible for us to use its neurons as organizational controllers.

Although research in this area is still at a very early stage, researchers are full of confidence in the prospects of this field. For example, a research team has used cricket organizations to develop a microbiological hybrid robot that can be used to find harmful substances or to inspect pipeline leaks. In theory, because of the biological compatibility of such devices, even if they are shredded or eaten by wild animals, they will not cause environmental damage or environmental pollution as traditional robots do.

Someday, these robots may be made of human cells and used in the medical field. Bio-robots can be used for targeted administration, evacuation of emboli, or as a controlled stent. Such stents use tissue substrates rather than multimolecular materials, so they can be used to enhance the strength of blood vessel walls and avoid the formation of aneurysms; and these devices may continue to be modified and improved in the future and be integrated into the human body.

Therefore, the research of biological robots indeed has a bright future. However, to make it truly benefit our lives, we still have a long way to go.

Via:IEEE

G1000 Oil Mud Pump

G1000 Oil Mud Pump,G500 Oil Mud Pump,G800 Oil Mud Pump,Oil Mud Pump For Oil Field

Jinan Guohua Green Power Equipment Co.,Ltd. , https://www.guohuagenerator.com