Called Anthrobots, they are able to move autonomously, assemble into larger structures, and have been shown to be able to repair damaged nervous tissue. This research represents one of the latest examples of biorobotics, an interdisciplinary science that combines robotics, bioengineering, and biomimicry.

Thus, biorobotics is a discipline that spans multiple fields, such as medical robotics, wearable technologies, collaborative robotics, bio-inspired robotics, neural engineering, rehabilitation robotics, and implantable technologies, with the goal of providing new technologies in the medical field.

Anthrobot research

A group of researchers led by American Tufts and Harvard Universities has published a study in the scientific journal Advanced Science that marks a new step forward for regenerative medicine. The research provides a starting point for using patients’ own cells as new personalized therapeutic tools to repair damaged tissue.

The study uses tracheal cells, which are equipped with cilia-like structures that in ‘biobots’ become means to move autonomously. The researchers grew a two-dimensional layer of neurons in the laboratory, then scratched it with a metal rod to generate a ‘wound.’ Once covered with a high concentration of Anthrobots, they triggered its healing, causing damaged neurons to regrow. An unexpected discovery that opens up multiple scenarios for use.

Indeed, these bio-robots could in the future be used for removing plaques on artery walls in patients with atherosclerosis, for repairing spinal cord or retinal nerve damage, for detecting bacteria or cancer cells, or be used for targeted drug delivery.

The multiple scenarios of biorobotics

Medical robotics can change the way diseases and injuries are monitored, diagnosed, and treated by designing and using innovative devices that are functional to the needs of patients and health care providers.

Thus, solutions in the fields of minimally invasive surgery, targeted therapy, diagnostics, and regenerative medicine are being developed in biorobotics research laboratories around the world, such as robots that can operate and navigate the human body for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, as well as designing robotic devices for surgery. Applications for rehabilitation and daily care of people with movement disorders, micro- and nanotechnology solutions, development of biomaterials for tissue regeneration, and bio-hybrid robots, stem cells, 3D bioprinting, and other biofabrication technologies are also studied.

Italian excellence

Italian biorobotics has its point of reference in the San’Anna Institute in Pisa, where design is divided into various research themes. Here they study the design of exoskeletons to assist, rehabilitate or augment human motor functions, new industrial and medical robots to collaborate fluidly with humans, haptic sensors to facilitate human-machine co-working while respecting all safety standards, robots for health care, agriculture, logistics and manufacturing.

In order to restore the functional abilities of individuals who have suffered limb trauma and for patients suffering from degenerative diseases that lead to organ deterioration, advanced technological solutions are being studied to replace compromised functions or missing body parts.

Out of these needs comes the development of advanced robotic limbs and bioinspired control paradigms for intuitive and smooth user interaction; the design of artificial hands and invasive and noninvasive bidirectional interfaces; and the development of bio-mechatronic artificial organs with soft implantable actuators or wireless magnetic activation. But the focus is also on creating advanced materials for use in implantable organs and advanced simulators for reproducing physiological and pathological phenomena.

The new scenarios

In this field, nature provides inspiration and biological organisms that become models for designing better robots, as is the case in soft and bio-inspired robotics. Unlike traditional robotics, soft robotics designs robots that can emulate the behaviors of animals and plants to perform useful tasks in real-world environments.

A very current topic is the modeling of the peripheral nervous system to emulate sensory perception. Neuro-robotics is an emerging discipline that studies the interaction between artificial devices and neural systems, as well as the possibility of implementing neural dynamics in artificial devices.

The various scenarios of bio-robotics use this discipline to simulate life, unveil its principles, and through new technologies for rehabilitation, care and treatment as well as education. Thus, bio-robotics is transformed into a driving force for active change, oriented toward well-being and improved lifestyles, in the society of the future