A Bio-Hybrid Stingray Robot Powered By Rat Muscle

Nature-inspired robotics is a hot field these days. We've reported on robots designed to mimic cockroaches, salamanders, cheetahs, sea snakes, among others. Basically, if it's alive, somebody out there is trying to make a robot version. So a robot inspired by a stingray might sound like more of the same. This tiny swimming robot, created by researchers at Harvard University's Department of Bioengineering and Applied Sciences, is powered by rat muscle cells, making it a biohybrid machine--part robot, part biological tissue.