Session: 06-12-03: Robotics, Rehabilitation

Paper Number: 119813

119813 - Living Hybrid Electronic Robots With Remote Control 

Bioengineering approaches that combine living cellular components with three-dimensional scaffolds to generate motion can be used to develop a new generation of miniature robots. Integrating on-board electronics and remote control in these biological machines will enable various applications across engineering, biology, and medicine. In this work, we present biohybrid electronic robots powered by optogenetic skeletal muscles and controlled by wireless optoelectronics. The robot architecture and locomotion performance were computationally optimized through a staged iterative process, incorporating fabrication and experimental testing for robustness. The eBiobots were designed and fabricated to bring together three different classes of components: the biological muscle tissue actuator, electronic components such as μ-ILEDs and the wireless electronics, and the 3D-printed hydrogel skeleton. These three components with contrasting mechanical properties were designed and optimized while physically assembling them together to result in the integrated functional system. A range of functionalities and capabilities can be expanded along each of the component types. Our designs, along with 3D printing additive manufacturing, allowed for seamless integration of on-board electronics, multiple muscle actuators, and LEGO-like structures and attachments. The device platform and design approach allowed for programmable functionalities such as remote control switching, steering, plowing, and transportation of objects, both for individual robots and multiple robots that could be individually controlled. The onboard electronics could include sensing, memory, storage, and closed-loop control toward autonomous functions. We also demonstrated precise local stimulation of the optogenetic skeletal muscle cells using the integrated μ-ILEDs as compared with stimulation from a distance, thus allowing for control of multiple muscle actuators on the same device and enabling for 2D walking and steering of the eBiobots. The speed of the device was eventually limited by the active tension produced by the muscle tissue and the mechanical design of the scaffold. The iterative modeling and simulation approach was used to optimize the physical parameters of the scaffold, resulting in a 10× increase in the speed of the robots. The operation of the muscle tissues requires a glucose-rich fluid environment at 37°C. However, future use of cells from other organisms such as insects could potentially enable room temperature operation. Although the molecular weight of the hydrogels can be designed to produce a specific mechanical modulus and the hydrogel can be 3D-printed to produce a desired shape, the hydrogel scaffolds required hydration to maintain their printed form and the mechanical properties to produce the desired functional response upon the muscle actuation. In conclusion, the building blocks demonstrated here could be used to design higher-order structures and systems that could combine the advantages of living tissues, 3D-printed additive manufacturing, and optoelectronics and pave the way for biohybrid miniature robots with integrated electronics and multicellular engineered living systems for a wide range of potential applications. This work paves the way toward a class of biohybrid machines able to combine biological actuation and sensing with on-board computing.

Presenting Author: Zhengwei Li University of Houston

Presenting Author Biography: Dr. Zhengwei Li is an Assistant Professor and Presidential Frontier Faculty Fellow in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Cullen College of Engineering, with a joint appointment in the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine at the University of Houston. Prior to joining UH in Fall 2022, Dr. Li was a postdoctoral fellow working with Prof. John A. Rogers at the Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics at Northwestern University. He also completed a post-doctoral fellowship for the development of biohybrid robotics from the NSF Science and Technology Center-EBICS at UIUC. Dr. Li received his doctorate in mechanical engineering (with the highest honor) in 2017 from the University of Colorado Boulder. He earned his master’s degree from Zhejiang University and bachelor’s degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, both in China. His research interests focus on the interface between human and machines to create novel materials, devices, and robotics for a wide range of healthcare and biomedical applications. The current research topics include Curvy wearable electronics, biohybrid living robotics (‘Bio-bots’), biomedical devices and instrumentations, bioelectronics neural interfaces, bioinspired & biohybrid systems, etc. His work has been published in numerous prestigious journals, including PNAS, Science Robotics, Nature Electronics, Science Advances, Nature Communications, Nature Protocols, Advanced Materials, Biomaterials, Biofabrication, Advanced Optical Materials, Scientific Reports, Nanotechnology, etc.

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