Research
MIT engineers have developed a thin, muscle-powered swimming robot whose gel “skeleton” is roughly the length and width of a stick of gum, according to a paper published in Advanced Functional Materials. The work, from the team’s Raman Lab, demonstrates that even a single layer of live muscle cells can propel a robot through water when the design is right.
The aquabot’s two gel halves serve as its “fins,” each coated with a layer of live muscle cells far thinner than a single strand of hair. Those cells are genetically engineered to twitch in response to light, so illuminating one fin causes its surface muscles to contract and the whole fin to flap with enough force to pull the robot through water. By flashing light on one fin or the other at varying intervals, the researchers can steer the robot’s direction and speed.
By flashing light on one fin or the other at varying intervals, the researchers can steer the robot’s direction and speed.
The engineers demonstrated that the paper-thin bot could swim and swivel through a simple watery maze. At its fastest, it covers a distance of about four times its body length in one minute — a snail’s pace next to Olympic swimmers, who can cover up to 65 body lengths per minute, but comparable to more leisurely swimmers such as the cow shark, which explores the ocean at roughly the same rate. The team’s stated aim in this work was to maximize muscle movements to produce more force.
The source does not detail the robot’s next development steps or specific limitations beyond the speed comparison, so the trajectory of the research remains to be reported.
Source: Robohub