Carnegie Mellon University scientists have engineered microscopic robots, called AggreBots, using human lung cells. These bio-robots move with cilia, the tiny hairlike structures that naturally propel particles in the lungs. Researchers demonstrated for the first time that cilia-driven biological robots can be guided with precision. Published in Science Advances, this work opens new possibilities for targeted drug delivery, minimally invasive therapies, and future biomedical innovations. The approach shows how human cells can be re-engineered into active therapeutic tools, advancing the next generation of medical treatments.

Core discovery & science
#MedicalBreakthrough #BioRobotics #LifeSciences #FutureOfMedicine #ScienceAdvances

Technology & innovation
#AggreBots #CellEngineering #TargetedTherapy #DrugDelivery #MinimallyInvasive #Biotech

Impact & applications
#InnovativeMedicine #NextGenHealthcare #CuttingEdgeScience #BiomedicalEngineering #HealthTech

Flying Without a Rudder

Aircraft typically use a vertical tail to keep the craft from rolling or yawing. Birds, on the other hand, maneuver their wings and tail feathers to counter unwanted motions. Researchers found that the list of necessary adjustments is quite small: just 4 for the tail and 2 for the wings. Implementing those 6 controllable degrees of freedom on their bird-inspired PigeonBot II allowed the biorobot to fly steadily, even in turbulent conditions, without a rudder. Adapting such flight control to the less flexible surfaces of a typical aircraft will take time and creativity, but the savings in mass and drag could be worth it. (Image credit: E. Chang/Lentink Lab; research credit: E. Chang et al.; via Physics Today)

#biology #biorobotics #birdFlight #birds #flightControl #fluidDynamics #physics #science #turbulence

Swimming Like a Ray

Manta rays are amazing and efficient swimmers — a necessity for any large animal that survives on tiny plankton. Researchers have built a new soft robot inspired by swimming mantas. Like its biological inspiration, the robot flaps its pectoral fins much as bird flaps its wings; this motion creates vortices that push water behind the robot, propelling it forward. For a downstroke, air inflates the robot’s body cavity, pushing the fins downward. When that air is released, its fins snap back up. With this simple and energy efficient stroke, researchers are able to control the robot’s swimming speed and depth, allowing it to maneuver around obstacles. Flapping faster helps the robot surface, and slower flapping allows it to sink. (Living manta rays also sink if they slow down.) Check out the robot in action below. (Image credit: J. Lanoy; video and research credit: H. Qing et al.; via Ars Technica)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXB9Ip7qa0o

#biology #biophysics #biorobotics #flapping #fluidDynamics #mantaRay #physics #science #swimming

Just like human swimmers, microswimmers have to coordinate their motion to swim. But unlike humans, swimmers like the freshwater alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii doesn’t have a brain to help it synchronize its cilia. To investigate how these microswimmers manage their stroke, researchers built a biorobot with mechanically linked segments that mimic the alga’s swimming once a motor sets the robot vibrating.

The researchers found two strokes that mirrored the real-life alga. In one, allowing the robot’s base to rotate produced a freestyle-like stroke they called R-mode. The other came from allowing the robot’s base to move forward and backward, which created a breaststroke-like X-mode. In the wild, only the X-mode provides helpful motion, but, oddly enough, the researchers found this mode was the most energy intensive. (Image credit: top – J. Larson, others – Y. Xia et al.; research credit: Y. Xia et al.; via APS Physics)

https://fyfluiddynamics.com/2024/09/synchronizing-cilia/

#biology #biorobotics #fluidDynamics #microswimmer #physics #science #synchronization

Join our FRIAS Conference bringing together nature and technology 22.11-24.11 at @unifreiburg

Abstracts can be submitted until September 29. More information: https://www.frias.uni-freiburg.de/de/veranstaltungen/nachwuchskonferenzen/FRoBio

#cfa #bioinspiration #biomimetics #biohybrid #neurorobotics #biologymeetsengeneering #biorobotics #cfa #callforposters #neuralnetworks #machinelearning #engineering #conference