Bionic Robotics: Autonomous Biohybrid Machines powered by skeletal muscle tissues

这个项目的灵感来自于生物有机体与不断变化的环境实时互动和适应的能力。仿生机器人寻求开发使用生物启发功能的机器，以创造能够与自然环境更有效地互动的新设计。传统的机器人使用由硬驱动技术驱动的刚性部件，如液压和电磁系统。这些成熟的机器人系统在工业上有着广泛的应用，但存在自主性差、对动态环境的适应性差、可扩展性差等问题。仿生机器人受到生物有机体的启发，旨在赋予现有机器人感知和响应能力，使它们能够与非结构化环境自主互动。该项目将开发一个自主软机器人系统。它由生物混合执行器提供动力，能够监测其生物分子环境，并通过运动变化做出反应。生物部件将在两个基本领域集成到机器人中：活细胞驱动和基于细菌的生物传感。这两个组件将使用电子控制电路连接起来。具体地说，该项目的目标是：-创造一种基于骨骼肌细胞的新型生物混合致动器：基于活细胞的致动器使用收缩组织中细胞的内在运动来产生运动。它使用分级组织的分子马达来形成宏观的人造收缩组织。骨骼肌组织是构建生物混合致动器的一个有吸引力的候选组织。它可以被设计成从毫米到米长，并且很容易通过外部刺激进行控制。这名学生将研究这些生命系统是如何运作的，以及它们如何有效地用于仿生机器人。骨骼肌既可以由电控制，也可以由光控制。电刺激将用于系统的初始开发。然而，随着时间的推移，这已被证明会导致骨骼肌组织的退化，因此还将研究一种光学刺激方法(通过光遗传学)。-建立生物传感接口：基于活细胞的机器人目前受到它们通信和对复杂微环境做出反应的能力的限制。在机器和环境之间建立新的通信桥梁是必不可少的。学生将探索使用大肠杆菌(E.Coli)进行演示，以实现外部环境和机器人控制系统之间的通信。我们将选择异丙基β-D-1硫代半乳糖苷(IPTG)作为常见的化学诱导剂。在IPTG存在的情况下，转基因大肠杆菌可以表达一种绿色荧光蛋白(GFP)，将被下列电子系统检测到。-开发一个电子控制系统，以促进执行器和生物传感器之间的通信：学生将开发一个基于现成组件的电子接口，以在生物传感器和细胞执行器之间交换信息。发光二极管和光电探测器将被用来激发和检测生物传感器的荧光变化，该荧光变化将由嵌入式微处理器解释，并通过光脉冲来激励活细胞致动器

The inspiration from this project lies in the ability of living organisms to interact with and adapt to the changing environment in real time. The Bionic Robotics seeks to develop machines using biologicallyinspired functionality, to create new designs that can interact more effectively with the natural environment. Conventional robotics use rigid components powered by hard actuation techniques, such as hydraulic and electromagnetic systems. These well-developed robotic systems have wide applications in industry, however suffer from poor autonomy, low adaptability to dynamic environments, and low scalability. Bionic robotics, inspired by living organisms, aim to endow existing robots with sensing and response capabilities to allow them to autonomously interact with unstructured environments. This project will develop an autonomous soft robotic system. It is powered by biohybrid actuators, and capable of both monitoring its biomolecular environment and responding through changes in motion. Living components will be integrated into the robot in two fundamental areas: living-cell actuation and bacteria-based biosensing. These two components will be linked using electronic control circuitry. Specifically, this project aims to:- Create a new biohybrid actuator based on skeletal muscle cells: living cell-based actuation uses the intrinsic motion of cells from contractile tissues to generate motion. It uses molecular motors hierarchically organised to form macroscopic artificial contractile tissues. Skeletal muscle tissue is an attractive candidate for the construction of biohybrid actuators. It can be engineered from the millimetre to meter length and be readily controlled using external stimulation. The student will investigate how these living systems operate and how they can be efficiently used in bionic robotics. Skeletal muscle can be controlled either by electricity or light. Electrical stimulation will be used for initial development of a system. However, this has been shown to induce the degradation of the skeletal muscle tissues over time, hence an optical stimulation approach (via optogenetics) will also be investigated.- Build a biosensing interface: living cell-based robots are currently limited by their ability to communicate and respond to complex microenvironments. Creating new communication bridges between machine and surroundings are essential. The student will explore the use of the bacteria Escherichia coli (E.coli) for demonstration to enable communication between the external environment and robotic controlling system. We will choose Isopropyl beta-D-1thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) as a common chemical inducer. With the presence of IPTG, genetically modified E.coli can express a green fluorescent protein (GFP), which will be detected by the following electronic system.- Develop an electronic control system to facilitate communication between actuator and biosensor: the student will develop an electronic interface based on off-the-shelf components to exchange information between the biosensor and cell-actuator. Light-emitting diodes and photodetectors will be used to excite and detect the fluorescence change from the biosensor which will be interpreted by an embedded microprocessor and used to stimulate the livingcell actuator through light pulses