Keisuke Morishima

About

Keisuke Morishima is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of biorobotics, biohybrid systems, and biomolecular engineering, whose work has fundamentally advanced how living biological components can be harnessed as functional robotic elements. His research spans insect-powered bioactuators, cyborg robotics, and biomolecular motor-driven microrobots, establishing him as a leading figure in the emerging field of biohybrid robotics. Morishima's most celebrated contribution — the biofuel cell-backpacked insect capable of wireless sensing (84 citations) — demonstrated that living insects could serve as self-powered environmental monitoring platforms, extracting energy directly from hemolymph blood sugar. This landmark work spawned subsequent developments in autonomous biohybrid robots for real-world monitoring applications. His exploration of insect muscular tissue as bioactuators, documented across multiple highly cited studies, revealed remarkable advantages in robustness and self-repair over mammalian cell-based alternatives. More recently, Morishima has pushed boundaries by developing printable biomolecular motor-driven actuators (71 citations) and in situ microrobots operating at submillimeter scales (37 citations), opening transformative possibilities for microsurgery and micro-object manipulation. His work on cyborg cockroaches with autonomous navigation feedback control further demonstrates his commitment to translating biohybrid systems toward practical search-and-rescue applications. With hundreds of cumulative citations, Morishima's contributions continue reshaping the frontier of living-machine integration.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Biofuel cell backpacked insect and its application to wireless sensing

   84 citations · 2015
2. 2
   A printable active network actuator built from an engineered biomolecular motor

   71 citations · 2021
3. 3
   Contractile Performance and Controllability of Insect Muscle-Powered Bioactuator with Different Stimulation Strategies for Soft Robotics

   45 citations · 2016
4. 4
   In situ integrated microrobots driven by artificial muscles built from biomolecular motors

   37 citations · 2022
5. 5
   Culture of insect cells contracting spontaneously; research moving toward an environmentally robust hybrid robotic system

   35 citations · 2007
6. 6
   Insect Muscular Tissue-Powered Swimming Robot

   25 citations · 2019
7. 7
   Autonomous environmental monitoring by self-powered biohybrid robot

   24 citations · 2016
8. 8
   Teleoperated Locomotion for Biobot between Japan and Bangladesh

   15 citations · 2022
9. 9
   Feedback control of automatic navigation for cyborg cockroach without external motion capture system

   14 citations · 2024
10. 10
    Cardiomyocyte-driven gel network for bio mechano-informatic wet robotics

    14 citations · 2012

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links