Robots: Can biohybrid model sink or swim?

“The idea is to build a part biological, part machine robot,” says Daniel Frankel, a chemical engineer at Newcastle University and one of the lead scientists for the project. “We’re going to do that using genetic engineering – we’re changing the way the cells work so they can be read by electronics.” This ambitious project, which began in 2009 aims to build a swimming robot with cells that have been genetically engineered to act like eyes, cells that detect chemicals, and muscles that contract, says Frankel. “All of these components will eventually work together like an artificial organism.”

Frankel is now using the same approach to build the robot’s chemical sensors, working with Christopher Voigt, a biological engineer at MIT, to engineer hamster cells that give off nitric oxide in the presence of certain chemical compounds. The release of nitric oxide will allow the modified mammalian cells to communicate with Cyberplasm’s electronic “brain”.

The micro-robot, dubbed “Cyberplasm” could then perform hazardous underwater tasks, such as looking for submerged mines, and explore worlds inaccessible to humans.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20121010-sink-or-swim-for-biohybrid-robot
Link: http://cyberplasm.net/