Rat tissue grown onto a silicon chip

CBC News: Growing muscle cells power microrobots: LONDON - By growing rat tissue onto a microscopic silicon chip, scientists have created tiny robots that can move using their own muscle power.

The robots, which are less than a millimetre long, are the first to include such living cells as complex as muscle tissue, researchers say.

The self-assembling cells were melded onto a tiny robotic frame, resulting in a device that could move like primitive legs without an external power source.

In one experiment, the team fed a glucose solution to rat heart cells in a culture mimicking a living system. Muscle contractions propelled the tiny structure to shuffle along.

Carlo Montemagno and his colleagues at the University of California Los Angeles said the technique involved growing the muscle tissue onto the silicon structure, instead of dissecting muscle from a living animal.
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