Researchers in Japan Develop Robot Hand with Cultured Muscles

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)--Researchers from the University of Tokyo and Waseda University said Thursday that they have developed a robot hand that uses cultured human muscle tissues. 

The biohybrid hand, 18 centimeters long, is the biggest of its kind. It has five independently moving fingers.

Although the hand is not yet strong enough to hold and lift an object, the researchers hope that the technology can be applied to prosthetic hands and limbs in the future.

Their team's research was published in the online edition of the U.S. journal Science Robotics.

The robot hand includes bundles of cultured muscle tissues connected to each finger. The fingers are bent by sending electric signals which make the muscle tissues contract.

Its palm measures about 6 centimeters long, roughly the size of a newborn baby's palm.

University of Tokyo professor Shoji Takeuchi, a member of the team, said that similar robot hands in past research were limited in size to several centimeters long because thicker muscle tissues prevent nutrients from reaching inner cells, making them die.

The team developed devices that bundle eight long and thin muscle tissues, each about several millimeters thick, enabling it to increase the force of muscle contraction while preventing cell necrosis.

"While we can't produce strong force like in a handshake yet, we are thinking about strengthening (the robot hand's) power by increasing the bundled muscle tissues," he said. "We want to make it able to lift an apple."

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