Researchers create remote-controlled biological robot that could eventually be used in surgery

MedTech Dive January 26, 2023
Nick Paul Taylor

Dive Brief:

• Researchers have combined mouse muscle tissue, a 3D-printed scaffold and microelectronics to create small remote-controlled robots.
• Writing in Science Robotics, the collaborators describe the creation of centimeter-scale robots. The robots walk when LEDs stimulate light-sensitive engineered muscle and cause contractions that move polymer legs.
• The design allows the integration of sensors and other components that could eventually equip the robots to detect biomarkers of disease, carry out biopsies or perform surgery.

Dive Insight:

The paper is the culmination of more than a decade of research into biobots. Rashid Bashir, a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, demonstrated walking biobots in 2012 and light-activated biobots in 2016. The latest advance enables the remote control of the...

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