Wirelessly Powered 3D Printed Hierarchical Biohybrid Robots with Multiscale Mechanical Properties

The integration of flexible and stretchable electronics into biohybrid soft robotics can spur the development of new approaches for fabricating biohybrid soft machines, thus enabling a wide variety of innovative applications. Inspired by flexible and stretchable wireless-based bioelectronic devices, untethered biohybrid soft robots are developed that can execute swimming motions, which are remotely controllable by the wireless transmission of electrical power into a cell simulator. To this end, wirelessly-powered, stretchable, and lightweight cell stimulators are designed to be integrated into muscle bodies without impeding the robots' underwater swimming abilities. The cell stimulators function by generating controlled monophasic pulses of up to approximate to 9 V in biological environments. By differentiating induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes directly on the cell stimulators using an accordion-inspired, three-dimensional (3D) printing construct, the native myofiber architecture are replicated with comparable robustness and enhanced contractibility. Wirelessly modulated electrical frequencies enables the control of speed and direction of the biohybrid soft robots. A maximum locomotion speed of approximate to 580 mu m s(-1) is achieved in robots possessing a large body size by adjusting the pacing frequency. This innovative approach will provide a platform for building untethered and biohybrid systems for various biomedical applications.

Automated summary

The integration of flexible and stretchable electronics into biohybrid soft robotics can enable the fabrication of new biohybrid soft machines with various applications. Using wireless transmission of electrical power, untethered biohybrid soft robots capable of swimming motions have been developed. By differentiating induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes on wireless-powered cell stimulators, the native myofiber architecture is replicated with enhanced contractibility. The wirelessly modulated electrical frequencies control the speed and direction of the robots.