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Raman R. Biofabrication of Living Actuators. Annu Rev Biomed Eng 2024; 26:223-245. [PMID: 38959387 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-bioeng-110122-013805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/05/2024]
Abstract
The impact of tissue engineering has extended beyond a traditional focus in medicine to the rapidly growing realm of biohybrid robotics. Leveraging living actuators as functional components in machines has been a central focus of this field, generating a range of compelling demonstrations of robots capable of muscle-powered swimming, walking, pumping, gripping, and even computation. In this review, we highlight key advances in fabricating tissue-scale cardiac and skeletal muscle actuators for a range of functional applications. We discuss areas for future growth including scalable manufacturing, integrated feedback control, and predictive modeling and also propose methods for ensuring inclusive and bioethics-focused pedagogy in this emerging discipline. We hope this review motivates the next generation of biomedical engineers to advance rational design and practical use of living machines for applications ranging from telesurgery to manufacturing to on- and off-world exploration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ritu Raman
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA;
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2
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Blackiston D, Kriegman S, Bongard J, Levin M. Biological Robots: Perspectives on an Emerging Interdisciplinary Field. Soft Robot 2023; 10:674-686. [PMID: 37083430 PMCID: PMC10442684 DOI: 10.1089/soro.2022.0142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Advances in science and engineering often reveal the limitations of classical approaches initially used to understand, predict, and control phenomena. With progress, conceptual categories must often be re-evaluated to better track recently discovered invariants across disciplines. It is essential to refine frameworks and resolve conflicting boundaries between disciplines such that they better facilitate, not restrict, experimental approaches and capabilities. In this essay, we address specific questions and critiques which have arisen in response to our research program, which lies at the intersection of developmental biology, computer science, and robotics. In the context of biological machines and robots, we explore changes across concepts and previously distinct fields that are driven by recent advances in materials, information, and life sciences. Herein, each author provides their own perspective on the subject, framed by their own disciplinary training. We argue that as with computation, certain aspects of developmental biology and robotics are not tied to specific materials; rather, the consilience of these fields can help to shed light on issues of multiscale control, self-assembly, and relationships between form and function. We hope new fields can emerge as boundaries arising from technological limitations are overcome, furthering practical applications from regenerative medicine to useful synthetic living machines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Douglas Blackiston
- Department of Biology, Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Institute for Computationally Designed Organisms, Massachusetts and Vermont, USA
| | - Sam Kriegman
- Institute for Computationally Designed Organisms, Massachusetts and Vermont, USA
- Center for Robotics and Biosystems, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
- Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | - Josh Bongard
- Institute for Computationally Designed Organisms, Massachusetts and Vermont, USA
- Department of Computer Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA
| | - Michael Levin
- Department of Biology, Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Institute for Computationally Designed Organisms, Massachusetts and Vermont, USA
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3
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Webster-Wood VA, Guix M, Xu NW, Behkam B, Sato H, Sarkar D, Sanchez S, Shimizu M, Parker KK. Biohybrid robots: recent progress, challenges, and perspectives. BIOINSPIRATION & BIOMIMETICS 2022; 18:015001. [PMID: 36265472 DOI: 10.1088/1748-3190/ac9c3b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Accepted: 10/20/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The past ten years have seen the rapid expansion of the field of biohybrid robotics. By combining engineered, synthetic components with living biological materials, new robotics solutions have been developed that harness the adaptability of living muscles, the sensitivity of living sensory cells, and even the computational abilities of living neurons. Biohybrid robotics has taken the popular and scientific media by storm with advances in the field, moving biohybrid robotics out of science fiction and into real science and engineering. So how did we get here, and where should the field of biohybrid robotics go next? In this perspective, we first provide the historical context of crucial subareas of biohybrid robotics by reviewing the past 10+ years of advances in microorganism-bots and sperm-bots, cyborgs, and tissue-based robots. We then present critical challenges facing the field and provide our perspectives on the vital future steps toward creating autonomous living machines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victoria A Webster-Wood
- Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering (by courtesy), McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15116, United States of America
| | - Maria Guix
- Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Baldiri-Reixac 10-12, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
- Departament de Ciència dels Materials i Química Física, Institut de Química Teòrica i Computacional Barcelona, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Nicole W Xu
- Laboratories for Computational Physics and Fluid Dynamics, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Code 6041, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Bahareh Behkam
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States of America
| | - Hirotaka Sato
- School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 65 Nanyang Drive, Singapore, 637460, Singapore
| | - Deblina Sarkar
- MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States of America
| | - Samuel Sanchez
- Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Baldiri-Reixac 10-12, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
- Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Avda. Lluis Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Masahiro Shimizu
- Department of Systems Innovation, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, 1-3 Machikaneyama-machi, Toyonaka, Osaka, Japan
| | - Kevin Kit Parker
- Disease Biophysics Group, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States of America
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Carniel T, Cazenille L, Dalle JM, Halloy J. Using natural language processing to find research topics in Living Machines conferences and their intersections with Bioinspiration & Biomimetics publications. BIOINSPIRATION & BIOMIMETICS 2022; 17:065008. [PMID: 36106566 DOI: 10.1088/1748-3190/ac9208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2022] [Accepted: 09/14/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The number of published scientific articles is increasing dramatically and makes it difficult to keep track of research topics. This is particularly difficult in interdisciplinary research areas where different communities from different disciplines are working together. It would be useful to develop methods to automate the detection of research topics in a research domain. Here we propose a natural language processing (NLP) based method to automatically detect topics in defined corpora. We start by automatically generating a global state of the art of Living Machines conferences. Our NLP-based method classifies all published papers into different clusters corresponding to the research topic published in these conferences. We perform the same study on all papers published in the journals Bioinspiration & Biomimetics and Soft Robotics. In total this analysis concerns 2099 articles. Next, we analyze the intersection between the research themes published in the conferences and the corpora of these two journals. We also examine the evolution of the number of papers per research theme which determines the research trends. Together, these analyses provide a snapshot of the current state of the field, help to highlight open questions, and provide insights into the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Théophile Carniel
- Université Paris Cité, CNRS, LIED UMR 8236, F-75006 Paris, France
- Agoranov, F-75006 Paris, France
| | - Leo Cazenille
- Université Paris Cité, CNRS, LIED UMR 8236, F-75006 Paris, France
| | - Jean-Michel Dalle
- Agoranov, F-75006 Paris, France
- Sorbonne Université, F-75005 Paris, France
- École Polytechnique, F-91120 Palaiseau, France
| | - José Halloy
- Université Paris Cité, CNRS, LIED UMR 8236, F-75006 Paris, France
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Abstract
Abstract
In the past few decades, robotics research has witnessed an increasingly high interest in miniaturized, intelligent, and integrated robots. The imperative component of a robot is the actuator that determines its performance. Although traditional rigid drives such as motors and gas engines have shown great prevalence in most macroscale circumstances, the reduction of these drives to the millimeter or even lower scale results in a significant increase in manufacturing difficulty accompanied by a remarkable performance decline. Biohybrid robots driven by living cells can be a potential solution to overcome these drawbacks by benefiting from the intrinsic microscale self-assembly of living tissues and high energy efficiency, which, among other unprecedented properties, also feature flexibility, self-repair, and even multiple degrees of freedom. This paper systematically reviews the development of biohybrid robots. First, the development of biological flexible drivers is introduced while emphasizing on their advantages over traditional drivers. Second, up-to-date works regarding biohybrid robots are reviewed in detail from three aspects: biological driving sources, actuator materials, and structures with associated control methodologies. Finally, the potential future applications and major challenges of biohybrid robots are explored.
Graphic abstract
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6
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Mestre R, Patiño T, Sánchez S. Biohybrid robotics: From the nanoscale to the macroscale. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS-NANOMEDICINE AND NANOBIOTECHNOLOGY 2021; 13:e1703. [PMID: 33533200 DOI: 10.1002/wnan.1703] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2020] [Revised: 12/17/2020] [Accepted: 01/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Biohybrid robotics is a field in which biological entities are combined with artificial materials in order to obtain improved performance or features that are difficult to mimic with hand-made materials. Three main level of integration can be envisioned depending on the complexity of the biological entity, ranging from the nanoscale to the macroscale. At the nanoscale, enzymes that catalyze biocompatible reactions can be used as power sources for self-propelled nanoparticles of different geometries and compositions, obtaining rather interesting active matter systems that acquire importance in the biomedical field as drug delivery systems. At the microscale, single enzymes are substituted by complete cells, such as bacteria or spermatozoa, whose self-propelling capabilities can be used to transport cargo and can also be used as drug delivery systems, for in vitro fertilization practices or for biofilm removal. Finally, at the macroscale, the combinations of millions of cells forming tissues can be used to power biorobotic devices or bioactuators by using muscle cells. Both cardiac and skeletal muscle tissue have been part of remarkable examples of untethered biorobots that can crawl or swim due to the contractions of the tissue and current developments aim at the integration of several types of tissue to obtain more realistic biomimetic devices, which could lead to the next generation of hybrid robotics. Tethered bioactuators, however, result in excellent candidates for tissue models for drug screening purposes or the study of muscle myopathies due to their three-dimensional architecture. This article is categorized under: Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Emerging Technologies Nanotechnology Approaches to Biology > Nanoscale Systems in Biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafael Mestre
- Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Tania Patiño
- Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain.,Chemistry Department, University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Samuel Sánchez
- Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain.,Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain.,School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China
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Webster-Wood VA, Akkus O, Gurkan UA, Chiel HJ, Quinn RD. Organismal Engineering: Towards a Robotic Taxonomic Key for Devices Using Organic Materials. Sci Robot 2021; 2. [PMID: 31360812 DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.aap9281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Can we create robots with the behavioral flexibility and robustness of animals? Engineers often use bio-inspiration to mimic animals. Recent advances in tissue engineering now allow the use of components from animals. By integrating organic and synthetic components, researchers are moving towards the development of engineered organisms whose structural framework, actuation, sensing, and control are partially or completely organic. This review discusses recent exciting work demonstrating how organic components can be used for all facets of robot development. Based on this analysis, we propose a Robotic Taxonomic Key to guide the field towards a unified lexicon for device description.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ozan Akkus
- Dept. of Mech. and Aero. Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.,Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.,Dept. of Orthopaedics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Umut A Gurkan
- Dept. of Mech. and Aero. Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.,Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.,Dept. of Orthopaedics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Hillel J Chiel
- Dept. of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.,Dept. of Neurosciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.,Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Roger D Quinn
- Dept. of Mech. and Aero. Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
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Barbier I, Perez‐Carrasco R, Schaerli Y. Controlling spatiotemporal pattern formation in a concentration gradient with a synthetic toggle switch. Mol Syst Biol 2020; 16:e9361. [PMID: 32529808 PMCID: PMC7290156 DOI: 10.15252/msb.20199361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2019] [Revised: 04/29/2020] [Accepted: 05/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The formation of spatiotemporal patterns of gene expression is frequently guided by gradients of diffusible signaling molecules. The toggle switch subnetwork, composed of two cross-repressing transcription factors, is a common component of gene regulatory networks in charge of patterning, converting the continuous information provided by the gradient into discrete abutting stripes of gene expression. We present a synthetic biology framework to understand and characterize the spatiotemporal patterning properties of the toggle switch. To this end, we built a synthetic toggle switch controllable by diffusible molecules in Escherichia coli. We analyzed the patterning capabilities of the circuit by combining quantitative measurements with a mathematical reconstruction of the underlying dynamical system. The toggle switch can produce robust patterns with sharp boundaries, governed by bistability and hysteresis. We further demonstrate how the hysteresis, position, timing, and precision of the boundary can be controlled, highlighting the dynamical flexibility of the circuit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Içvara Barbier
- Department of Fundamental MicrobiologyUniversity of LausanneLausanneSwitzerland
| | - Rubén Perez‐Carrasco
- Department of Life SciencesImperial College LondonSouth Kensington CampusLondonUK
- Department of MathematicsUniversity College LondonLondonUK
| | - Yolanda Schaerli
- Department of Fundamental MicrobiologyUniversity of LausanneLausanneSwitzerland
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Xu NW, Dabiri JO. Low-power microelectronics embedded in live jellyfish enhance propulsion. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:eaaz3194. [PMID: 32064355 PMCID: PMC6989144 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaz3194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2019] [Accepted: 11/22/2019] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
Artificial control of animal locomotion has the potential to simultaneously address longstanding challenges to actuation, control, and power requirements in soft robotics. Robotic manipulation of locomotion can also address previously inaccessible questions about organismal biology otherwise limited to observations of naturally occurring behaviors. Here, we present a biohybrid robot that uses onboard microelectronics to induce swimming in live jellyfish. Measurements demonstrate that propulsion can be substantially enhanced by driving body contractions at an optimal frequency range faster than natural behavior. Swimming speed can be enhanced nearly threefold, with only a twofold increase in metabolic expenditure of the animal and 10 mW of external power input to the microelectronics. Thus, this biohybrid robot uses 10 to 1000 times less external power per mass than other aquatic robots reported in literature. This capability can expand the performance envelope of biohybrid robots relative to natural animals for applications such as ocean monitoring.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole W. Xu
- Department of Bioengineering, School of Engineering and School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - John O. Dabiri
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
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10
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Ricotti L, Trimmer B, Feinberg AW, Raman R, Parker KK, Bashir R, Sitti M, Martel S, Dario P, Menciassi A. Biohybrid actuators for robotics: A review of devices actuated by living cells. Sci Robot 2017; 2:2/12/eaaq0495. [PMID: 33157905 DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.aaq0495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 209] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2017] [Accepted: 11/07/2017] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Actuation is essential for artificial machines to interact with their surrounding environment and to accomplish the functions for which they are designed. Over the past few decades, there has been considerable progress in developing new actuation technologies. However, controlled motion still represents a considerable bottleneck for many applications and hampers the development of advanced robots, especially at small length scales. Nature has solved this problem using molecular motors that, through living cells, are assembled into multiscale ensembles with integrated control systems. These systems can scale force production from piconewtons up to kilonewtons. By leveraging the performance of living cells and tissues and directly interfacing them with artificial components, it should be possible to exploit the intricacy and metabolic efficiency of biological actuation within artificial machines. We provide a survey of important advances in this biohybrid actuation paradigm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonardo Ricotti
- The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pontedera, Pisa, Italy.
| | - Barry Trimmer
- Department of Biology, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02153, USA
| | - Adam W Feinberg
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Ritu Raman
- Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Kevin K Parker
- Disease Biophysics Group, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Rashid Bashir
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Metin Sitti
- Max-Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Sylvain Martel
- NanoRobotics Laboratory, Department of Computer and Software Engineering, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Paolo Dario
- The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pontedera, Pisa, Italy
| | - Arianna Menciassi
- The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pontedera, Pisa, Italy
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Webster VA, Young FR, Patel JM, Scariano GN, Akkus O, Gurkan UA, Chiel HJ, Quinn RD. 3D-Printed Biohybrid Robots Powered by Neuromuscular Tissue Circuits from Aplysia californica. BIOMIMETIC AND BIOHYBRID SYSTEMS 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-63537-8_40] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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