Watch a robot with living muscles walk through water

A tiny, bipedal robot that combines muscle tissue with artificial materials can walk and turn by contracting its muscles. While biohybrid robots that crawl and swim have been built before with lab-grown muscle, this is the first such bipedal robot that can pivot and make sharp turns. It does this by applying electricity to one of its legs to make the muscle contract, while the other leg remains anchored. The muscle acts as a biological actuator – a component that converts electrical energy into mechanical force. At the moment, the robot, which is only 3 centimetres tall, cannot support itself in air and has a foam buoy to help it stand up in a water tank.