Tokyo, Japan – Japanese scientists have developed a technique to attach self-healing, living skin to a robot face and make it "smile". The scientists, led by professor Shoji Takeuchi at the University of Tokyo's Biohybrid Systems Laboratory, connected cultured skin tissue in the likeness of a human face to an actuator – an external mechanical device – using "anchors" that mimic skin ligaments. In a video released by the team, the scientists can be seen manipulating the skin into a smile without causing the tissue to bunch, tear or get stuck in place. Previous efforts to attach tissue made from human cells to a solid surface would result in the skin being damaged when in motion. While Takeuchi's fleshy pink blob bears greater resemblance to a children's animated character than a human face, researchers hope the breakthrough will pave the way to realistic humanoids in the future.

Sinister, brain-controlling mushrooms are a staple in sci-fi shows and literature. While brainwashed humans doing the bidding of fungi remains fantasy, researchers have now learned how to control a robot's movement using electrical signals produced by the mycelium of the common King oyster mushroom. This part machine, part fungus robot could one day serve as a building block for more advanced "biohybrid" chimeras that can remotely analyze agricultural fields for potentially harmful changes in soil chemistry. Researchers from Cornell University and University of Florence in Italy wanted to see if electrical signals pulsing through the mycelium of fungi could be translated into a controlling input for robots. The findings were published last month in the journal Science Robotics.

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.

Scientists from Japan have created living human skin that will help in the creation of biohybrid robots, which are made of both living and artificial materials. The method was presented on June 9 in the journal Matter. The team was able to give a robotic finger a skin-like texture, as well as water-repellent and self-healing functions. Shoji Takeuchi is a professor at the University of Tokyo, Japan. "The finger looks slightly'sweaty' straight out of the culture medium," Takeuchi says.

The new field of biohybrid robotics involves the use of living tissue within robots, rather than just metal and plastic. Muscle is one potential key component of such robots, providing the driving force for movement and function. However, in efforts to integrate living muscle into these machines, there have been problems with the force these muscles can exert and the amount of time before they start to shrink and lose their function. Now, in a study reported in the journal Science Robotics, researchers at The University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science have overcome these problems by developing a new method that progresses from individual muscle precursor cells, to muscle-cell-filled sheets, and then to fully functioning skeletal muscle tissues. They incorporated these muscles into a biohybrid robot as antagonistic pairs mimicking those in the body to achieve remarkable robot movement and continued muscle function for over a week.

Researchers have developed a way to integrate living muscle into machines to create a biohybrid robot. Reported in the journal Science Robotics, the study was undertaken at the University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science and demonstrates how the researchers developed the use of living tissue within robots, rather than just metal and plastic. Scientists are working on a project that sounds like they're creating a cyborg The new method progresses from individual muscle precursor cells, to muscle-cell-filled sheets, and then to fully functioning skeletal muscle tissues. They were able to incorporate these muscles into a biohybrid robot as antagonistic pairs mimicking those in the body to achieve remarkable robot movement and continued muscle function for over a week. To develop the muscle-powered robots, the team first constructed a robot skeleton on which to install the pair of functioning muscles.

That's a 3D printed shell around a sea-slug mouth muscle. The cyborg's leg is a sea slug's mouth. The robot, built from printed parts and organic material, moves on land like a sea turtle. There is no feeling to the partially organic machine. An external electrical field provides stimulation, and the robot moves.

With soft, slimy bodies that come in a rainbow of colours, sea slugs are some of the weirdest looking creatures in the ocean. But now scientists have used the strange marine invertebrates to help them build a new type of flexible cyborg robot. Using tough muscles taken from the mouths of sea slugs, engineers have combined them with 3D printed components to create what they are calling'biohybrid' robots. Engineers have created a'biohybrid' robot that uses the mouth muscles from the California sea slug. The muscle is attached to 3D printed body and legs (pictured), allowing the robot to crawl like a sea turtle pulling itself up the beach.

Scientists have developed what may be the slowest first responder ever. On Monday, researchers from Case Western Reserve University unveiled a "biohybrid" robot powered by sea slug muscles. The device, researchers say, could perform tasks that are difficult for traditional robots, and even take on search missions. "We're building a living machine – a biohybrid robot that's not completely organic, yet," said Victoria Webster, a PhD candidate who led the research, in a statement. Biorobotic philosophies – including, but not limited to the notion that "living machines" could perform tasks that aren't possible for organic organisms or totally man-made devices – have inspired new lines of research in many fields.

Sea slugs typically slither--a perfectly respectable way to get around--but recently a team of scientists saw additional locomotive potential in the odd-looking invertebrate. Specifically, they took a tiny muscle from the sea slug's mouth and used it to make a robot crawl. "We're building a living machine--a biohybrid robot that's not completely organic--yet," Victoria Webster, the PhD student who is leading the research, said in a statement. A sea slug might seem an unlikely source for robot parts. But according to the researchers, sea slugs are exceptionally tough creatures, and that toughness extends down to the cellular level.