A robotic shoulder could make it easier to grow usable human tissue

But growing usable human tendon cells--which need to stretch and twist--has proved trickier. Over the past two decades, scientists have encouraged engineered tendon cells and tissue to grow and mature by repeatedly stretching them in one direction. However, this approach has so far failed to produce fully functional tissue grafts that could be used clinically, in human bodies. A new study, published in Nature Communications Engineering today, shows how humanoid robots could be used to make engineered tendon tissue that is more like the real thing. "The clinical need is clearly there," says Pierre-Alexis Mouthuy from the University of Oxford, who led the team.