Light Robots: Towards Autonomous Platform Driven by Biological Feedback [ABioT]

The idea of the ABioT project is to combine light-responsive soft robots with living biological tissue into one functional hybrid system. Such hybrid systems mimic living tissue and enable self-renewal while maintaining the controllability of the synthetic material through light-activation. Typically, soft robots are made from silicone-based materials and use pneumatic actuation driven by air pressure. However, recently, light-responsive materials, i.e. materials that absorb energy from light and use it to generate movement, have been found promising in soft robotics due to their non-invasiveness and high level of control.

Within the ABioT project, we develop light-responsive platforms that can mechanically manipulate living cells while measuring the biological response directly from the manipulated specimen. For example, topographies can be generated, or the entire soft robot can be deformed in the presence of cells. The platform, based on liquid-crystal elastomers (LCEs), combines dynamic response, biocompatibility, and biomimicry. Finally, the project envisages to endow the hybrid system with a feedback loop between the measured cellular activity and actuator response, thus enabling autonomy. The future applications of this technology could include e.g. artificial, contracting arteries and blood vessels, bioactive plasters and bandages which enhance wound healing, and even contractile muscle-like bio-inspired tissue-engineered grafts.