A team from the University of Tokyo and the University of Tokyo and the University of Waseda in Japan have built a biohbrid hand that can move objects and make a scissors gesture. The researchers used thin ropes of muscle tissue grown in the laboratory included in Sushilike rolls to give the fingers enough strength to get contracting. These multiple muscle tissue actuators (mumutes), created by researchers, are an important development to build larger biohíbrid limbs. Although it is currently limited to the laboratory environment, mumutes have the potential to move forward in future biohill prostheses, help drug tests in muscle tissue and expand the potential of biohribrid robotics to imitate real -life forms.
“Rock, Paper, Scissors” is a classic school playground or a fast fire form to make decisions for the undecided. But choose paper and lose with this robot hand, which has dominated the art of the scissor gesture. And while it may seem a simple movement, in the field of biohribrides and prostheses, this is a leap forward towards the new levels of realism and usability.
The hand is made of a 3D plastic base, with human muscle tissue tendons that move the fingers. Until now, biohribron devices have generally been on a much smaller scale (approximately 1 centimeter long) or limited to simpler or single joint movements. On the contrary, the Biohribrida hand is 18 cm long and has multi -site fingers, which can move individually to make gestures or in combination to manipulate objects.
“Our key achievement was to develop the mEMUTAS. These are thin strands of muscle tissue cultivated in a culture medium and then rolled in a package as a sushi roll to do each tendon,” said Professor Shoji Takeuchi at the University of Tokyo. “Creating the mEMUTAS allowed us to overcome our greatest challenge, which was to guarantee enough strength and contractile length in the muscles to conduct the great structure of the hand.”
The thick muscle tissue that is needed to move larger limbs is difficult to grow in the laboratory, since it suffers from necrosis. This is when insufficient nutrients reach the center of the muscle, resulting in tissue loss. However, by using multiple thin muscle tissues grouped to act as a larger muscle, the equipment was able to create tendons with enough force.
Mumutes are stimulated using electric currents, administered through waterproof cables. To test the skills of the hand, the team manipulated the fingers to form a scissors gesture against the little finger, the ring finger and the thumb. They also used the fingers to grab and move the tip of a pipette. This demonstrated the ability of the hand to imitate a variety of actions, since the multi -site fingers can be flexed separately or at the same time, an impressive feat.
However, the use of real muscle tissue comes with some disadvantages, like anyone who has been in the gym can know. “Although it was not entirely surprising, it was interesting that the contractile force of the tissues decreased and shows signs of fatigue after 10 minutes of electrical stimulation, but only one hour of rest was recovered. Observing such a recovery response, similar to that of Living tissues, in the muscle tissues designed it was a remarkable and fascinating result, “Takeuchi said.
Currently, the hand must be suspended in liquid so that the “anchors” or ties, which connect the muscles with their hand, can float without friction, allowing the fingers to move gently. However, the team believes that with greater development, it will be possible to build a free movement hand.
Another additional challenge with the current design is that the fingers cannot be intentionally returned to their straight initial position, but do so floating in their place. Add an elastic material to replace them in their position, or more mumutes on the back of the fingers contracted in the opposite direction, would allow greater control over the movement of the finger.
“An important objective of biohribrid robotics is to imitate biological systems, which requires expanding their size. Our development of mumutes is an important milestone to achieve this,” said Takeuchi. “The field of biohribrid robotics is still in its childhood, with many fundamental challenges to overcome. Once these basic obstacles are addressed, this technology could be used in advanced prostheses and could also serve as a tool to understand how muscle tissues work In biological systems, to test surgical procedures or medications aimed at muscle tissues. “