Bio-hybrid machines are based on the integration of engineered artificial structures and living bio-systems. This approach exploits the unique characteristics of biological cells and tissues, which have been refined over millions of years of natural evolution. Actuation is a key function of any machine and constitutes the main motivation for the development of bio-hybrid robots. Bio-hybrid actuators have the potential to provide artificial devices with unprecedented performances at the macro-scale and to enable the development of self-powered micro-robots. By leveraging the performance of living cells and tissues and directly interfacing them with artificial components it should be possible to exploit the intricacy and metabolic efficiency of biological actuation within artificial machines. Different types of bio-hybrid actuators have been proposed so far: bacteria-based systems, which demonstrated their potential for medical applications; actuators based on whole explanted muscles, devices powered by cardiomyocytes or engineered skeletal muscle tissues and controlled through electrical or optical inputs, and machines based on insect cells and tissues (showing higher robustness in a wide range of environmental conditions). This Workshop aims at describing the most recent efforts in this field and the challenges to be addressed to further evolve such technologies. It also aims at highlighting the deeply interdisciplinary nature of this paradigm, which constitutes a nice bridge between the methodologies and competences typical of both robotics and bioengineering domains.
Organizers
Organizer: Prof. Leonardo Ricotti – IEEE and EMBS Member
Leonardo Ricotti is Associate Professor of Bioengineering and Biorobotics at The BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa, Italy) and Head of The Micro-Nano-Bio Systems and Targeted Therapy Laboratory. He is co-author of ~ 75 scientific papers (55 on ISI journals) and 6 book chapters and inventor of 9 patents. Biorobotics Theme co-chair.
Co-Organizer: Prof. Barry Trimmer – IEEE Member
Barry Trimmer is Professor of Natural Science at the Department of Biology, Tufts University (Medford, USA) and director of the Tufts Biomimetics Devices Laboratory. He is co-author of more than 80 scientific papers and his h-index is 26. He is the Editor in Chief of the “Soft Robotics” journal (MaryAnn Liebert Inc.). Leader of the CA for Soft Robotics.
Co-Organizer: Dr. Ritu Raman – IEEE Member
Ritu Raman is postdoctoral fellow at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, USA). She focuses on novel materials and devices for application in translational medicine and bio-hybrid robots. She recently published high-impact papers on bio-hybrid technologies (e.g. in PNAS and Nature Protocols).
Co-Organizer: Prof. Sylvain Martel – IEEE Member
Sylvain Martel is Professor at the Department of Computer and Software Engineering of Polytechnique Montréal (Canada) and director of the NanoRobotics Laboratory. He is also responsible for the Canada Research Chair in Medical Nanorobotics. He is co-author of more than 250 scientific papers, with an h-index of 26 and ~ 3000 citations.
Bio-hybrid machines are based on the integration of engineered artificial structures and living bio-systems. This approach exploits the unique characteristics of biological cells and tissues, which have been refined over millions of years of natural evolution. Actuation is a key function of any machine and constitutes the main motivation for the development of bio-hybrid robots. Bio-hybrid actuators have the potential to provide artificial devices with unprecedented performances at the macro-scale and to enable the development of self-powered micro-robots. By leveraging the performance of living cells and tissues and directly interfacing them with artificial components it should be possible to exploit the intricacy and metabolic efficiency of biological actuation within artificial machines. Different types of bio-hybrid actuators have been proposed so far: bacteria-based systems, which demonstrated their potential for medical applications; actuators based on whole explanted muscles, devices powered by cardiomyocytes or engineered skeletal muscle tissues and controlled through electrical or optical inputs, and machines based on insect cells and tissues (showing higher robustness in a wide range of environmental conditions). This Workshop aims at describing the most recent efforts in this field and the challenges to be addressed to further evolve such technologies. It also aims at highlighting the deeply interdisciplinary nature of this paradigm, which constitutes a nice bridge between the methodologies and competences typical of both robotics and bioengineering domains.
Tentative program:
09:00 – 9:15 Welcome (opening)
Prof. Leonardo Ricotti, The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna
09:15 Session 1: Micro/nano-scale bio-hybrid devices for medical applications (Chair: Prof. Sylvain Martel)
09:15 – 09:45 Prof. Sylvain Martel, NanoRobotics Laboratory, Polytechnique Montréal, Montréal, Canada – Cancer therapy through bio-hybrid agents based on magneto-aerotactic bacteria
9:45 – 10:15 Dr. Mariana Medina-Sanchez, Micro- and Nanobiomedical Engineering Group, IFW Dresden, Dresden, Germany – Microbiorobots based on sperm cells: control and imaging issues
10:15 – 11:00 Coffee Break
11.00 Session 2: Cardiomyocytes as high-power building blocks for bio-hybrid machines (Chair: Prof. Kevin Kit Parker)
11:00 – 11:30 Prof. Kevin Kit Parker, Disease Biophysics Group, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambdrige, USA – Multiscale design in biohybrid robotics
11:30 – 12:00 Prof. Adam W. Feinberg, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA – Engineering 3D skeletal and cardiac muscle tissue using advanced biofabrication technologies
12:00 – 13:30 Lunch Break
13:30 Session 3: Pushing the performances of skeletal muscle-powered robots (Chair: Dr. Ritu Raman)
13:30 – 14:00 Prof. Leonardo Ricotti, The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa (Italy) – Multi-scale technologies for bio-hybrid machines
14:00 – 14:30 Prof. Toshinori Fujie, Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Waseda University, Tokyo, and Japan Science and Technology Agency, PRESTO, Saitama, Japan – Polymer nanosheets as flexible building blocks for bio-hybrid systems
14:30 – 15:00 Dr. Ritu Raman, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA – 3D Printed adaptive optogenetic Bio-Bots
15:00 – 15:30 Coffee Break
15:30 Session 4: Bio-hybrid machines based on cells/tissues not derived from mammals (Chair: Prof. Leonardo Ricotti)
15:30 – 16:00 Dr. Yoshitake Akiyama, Division of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics, Shinshu University (Japan) – Atmospheric-operable bioactuator powered by insect cells
16:00 – 16:30 Dr. Victoria Webster-Wood, Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, USA – Bio-hybrid machines based on Aplysia californica neuromuscular tissues
16:30 Panel Discussion: here the speakers will interact with the audience, wrapping up the state of the art and highlighting the still open research issues and bottlenecks, trying to identify the most promising routes for pushing ahead the bio-hybrid paradigm in the next decade.
17:30 End