Scientists have 3D printed small, soft bio-bots with living tissues that can not only walk and swim, but also have the ability to age as well as heal if there is an injury. Researchers at University of Illinois in the US made a soft 3D printed scaffold measuring a centimetre or two in length and seeded it with muscle cells. The cells then self-organised to form functional tissues that make the bio-bots move.
“These machines are now viewed as partially living, with the ability to form, the ability to age and the ability to heal if there is an injury,” said Taher Saif from Illinois. “We are beginning to look back and try to understand how the cells organise themselves and what language they use to communicate,” he said.
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