Engineered Muscle Actuators: Cells and Tissues

摘要

We report the completion of Phase II of a technological development program for the production of living muscle mechanical actuators for robotic and prosthetic applications. Our primary objectives were to engineer living skeletal muscle actuators in culture using integrated bioreactors to guide tissue development and to maintain tissue contractility, to achieve 50% of adult phenotype muscular contractility, and then to install the engineered muscles into a centimeter-scale hybrid swimming robotic platform. Outcomes by milestone: (1) Develop integrated tissue culture bioreactor systems: completed all but bulk perfusion (2) Develop appropriate tissue interfaces in culture: full success, muscle-tendon & nerve (3) Achieve 50% of adult muscle functional capacity: excellent progress but not 50% (4) Swimming robotic platform with muscle: 50% success due to inadequate muscle performance Overall, this project resulted in many planned and collateral technological advances, including sub-cm scale cardiac muscle powered swimming actuators, functional tendon and nerve tissue interfaces, integrated rapid manufactured tissue bioreactors and improved contractility.