Researchers at the University of Illinois have created small robots that can walk with help from muscle cells.
The biobots' bio-based muscular engines give them the ability to travel across a surface as well as through liquids, according to TechCrunch.
"Biological actuation driven by cells is a fundamental need for any kind of biological machine you want to build," said Rashid Bashir, leader of the study. "We're trying to integrate these principles of engineering with biology in a way that can be used to design and develop biological machines and systems for environmental and medical applications."
The new robots are different from the walking robots that researchers created previously, The Verge reported. Previous robots were powered by heart muscles and were hard to control because the tendons kept pulsing. The new biobots use skeletal muscle that works similar to the muscles found in humans and animals.
"Biology is tremendously wonderful, and if we can somehow learn to harness its advantages for useful applications, it could bring about a lot of great things," Bashir said.
The research team is also looking to use neurons that can control the robots' direction and rate of firing. Soft hydrogel was used to make the robots, and its muscles are stretched onto the material, TechCrunch reported.
The team believes the biobots can be used for a variety of purposes, such as improving biological control systems or toxin neutralization.
"Our goal is for these devices to be used as autonomous sensors," Bashir explained. "We want it to sense a specific chemical and move towards it, then release agents to neutralize the toxin, for example. Being in control of the actuation is a big step forward toward this goal."
