Soft Modular Robotic Cubes: Toward Replicating Morphogenetic Movements of the Embryo

In this paper we present a new type of simple, pneumatically actuated, soft modular robotic system that can reproduce fundamental cell behaviors observed during morphogenesis; the initial shaping stage of the living embryo. The fabrication method uses soft lithography for producing composite elastom...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2017-01, Vol.12 (1), p.e0169179-e0169179
Main Authors: Vergara, Andrea, Lau, Yi-Sheng, Mendoza-Garcia, Ricardo-Franco, Zagal, Juan Cristóbal
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actuation
Air pumps
Animals
Biomimetics
Cell adhesion & migration
Cell culture
Cell migration
Cell Movement - physiology
Docking
Elastomers
Embryonic development
Engineering and Technology
Fabrication
Humans
International conferences
Modular systems
Modules
Morphogenesis
Permanent magnets
Physical Sciences
Physiological aspects
Pressurization
Reconfiguration
Replication
Robotic cubes
Robotics
Robots
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Summary:In this paper we present a new type of simple, pneumatically actuated, soft modular robotic system that can reproduce fundamental cell behaviors observed during morphogenesis; the initial shaping stage of the living embryo. The fabrication method uses soft lithography for producing composite elastomeric hollow cubes and permanent magnets as passive docking mechanism. Actuation is achieved by controlling the internal pressurization of cubes with external micro air pumps. Our experiments show how simple soft robotic modules can serve to reproduce to great extend the overall mechanics of collective cell migration, delamination, invagination, involution, epiboly and even simple forms of self-reconfiguration. Instead of relying in complex rigid onboard docking hardware, we exploit the coordinated inflation/deflation of modules as a simple mechanism to detach/attach modules and even rearrange the spatial position of components. Our results suggest new avenues for producing inexpensive, yet functioning, synthetic morphogenetic systems and provide new tangible models of cell behavior.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0169179