MIT demonstrates swimming robot driven by a single muscle-cell layer

MIT researchers demonstrated a swimming robot powered by a single layer of living muscle cells that navigated a maze under external light guidance, New Atlas reported. Genetically engineered cells contract when illuminated, moving two flexible fins without onboard electronics. The team replaced a gel that wrinkled under muscle contractions with a stiffer gelatin-based material and grooves that aligned the cells. Daily light stimulation increased fin displacement fourfold compared with an unstimulated control group, and the muscle worked without anchoring for more than 30 days. Steering still required a researcher holding a light outside the Petri dish.