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Tiny Robots Powered by Living Muscle Cells
voma writes "Tiny robots powered by living muscle have been created by scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The devices were formed by "growing" rat cells on microscopic silicon chips, the researchers report in the journal Nature Materials.
Less than a millimetre long, the miniscule robots can move themselves without any external source of power. Muscles like these could be used in a host of microscopic devices - even to drive miniature electrical generators to power computer chips."
but still... pretty crazy what scientists can do. I won't say EVIL EVIL! or YAY PROGRESS! I mean, we are human. we will dabble. these things will be invented. just hope like so many other inventions, the good outweighs the bad.
:)
besides. 1mm of rat muscle? man. how puny
-John
"The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing and hoping for different results"
No food, no light, no oxygen, no electricity?
Maybe "voma" is a pseudonym for Laura Didio.
There's no external power source, because these things EAT OLD PEOPLES MEDICINE FOR FUEL!
I don't know why the scientists keep inventing them.
And when they grab you in their metal claws, you can't escape, because they're made of metal.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
...Planet of the Apes still a long way off...
Say that again after looking at Steve ballmer perform.
for a moment, while I feed my computer.
Gee, I initially read that as "these things EAT OLD PEOPLE FOR FUEL!" Now *that* would solve the Social Security problem...
Reject Fear - Embrace Hope
Now I need to worry about keeping my computer in shape as well as myself.
Can devices like this potentially use chemicals in blood to generate mechanical energy and then electricity so as to replace pacemakers? It'd be nice if those things had indefinite battery life rather than what they have now, what, 9 years?
Of course, I'm surprised that you couldn't just do a mechanical generator for that. Or have they?
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
The abstract from the paper
Current procedures for manual extraction of mature muscle tissue in micromechanical structures are time consuming and can damage the living components. To overcome these limitations, we have devised a new system for assembling muscle-powered microdevices based on judicious manipulations of materials phases and interfaces. In this system, individual cells grow and self-assemble into muscle bundles that are integrated with micromechanical structures and can be controllably released to enable free movement. Having realized such an assembly with cardiomyocytes we demonstrate two potential applications: a force transducer able to characterize in situ the mechanical properties of muscle and a self-assembled hybrid (biotic/abiotic) microdevice that moves as a consequence of collective cooperative contraction of muscle bundles. Because the fabrication of silicon microdevices is independent of the subsequent assembly of muscle cells, this system is highly versatile and may lead to the integration of cells and tissues with a variety of other microstructures.
"even to drive miniature electrical generators to power computer chips."
This makes it seem as if muscle cells can act as a source of free power. I'm sure the above plan would work, but only for a very short time... Just as human beings can run "without an external power source," until we need to recharge (i.e. eat). We use sugars to produce ATP which gives us the energy we need. But the problem is that our bodies contain all of the necessary facilities to convert sugar into ATP quickly and efficiently, while lone muscle cells on a computer chip do not. They would eventually be forced either to remove the cells and replace them with new ones, or to find a way of recharging the cells, which sounds like a project in itself.
* Olaserov is in the process of thinking up a signature.
Why is the word "growing" in quotes in the posted article? Did the scientists not actually grow the muscles?
Muscles would be great replacements for all sorts of electrically powered motors/servos out there. There's a lot of chemical energy stored in organic material, so switching over to artificial muscle based machines would virtually solve the battery problem faced in so many disciplines right now. Batteries are heavy, don't really store that much energy, and require toxic chemical considerations both in their manufacture and disposal. Artificial muscle on the other hand can extract very easily the energy contained within common foods/organic paste and only create waste by-products that have less impact on the environment because they're biodegradable. :)
Just another step towards Robotech
Shh.
Won't the cells eventually die?!
Once someone can network these things together then testing of Borg 0.1a can begin.
I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to my assimilation, so long as Jeri Ryan is involved.
The 300 foot tall version will only have 60 seconds of power without a direct feed and must be powered by kids and have some plot that doesn't make sense and angers it's viewers on the last episode.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
The cells DO need a source of power: ATP. That's our input. The desired output is electrical energy. 1. ATP 2. -> mechanical energy 3. -> electrical energy I admit, the cool factor is there, but why can't we just use chemical reactions to extract the raw energy from ATP's chemical bonds?
The abstract on the Nature website wasn't doing it for me. I wanted to see a picture. After a quick bit of searching I found the PDF that explains more and has three colourised pictures. http://www.spie.org/paper/FirstSelf.pdf
idm owns me
Bender