Bio-Hybrid Robot: Uses Muscles From Slug's Mouth And 3D Printed Parts: "Like A Slow Sea Turtle"

Biohybrid Robot 'Crawls' Using Muscles Taken from a Slug's Mouth (+Video)

The robot combines tissues from a California sea slug with flexible 3D-printed parts

Victoria Woollaston | July 19, 2016

By combining tissues from a slug with flexible 3D-printed parts, researchers have created a 'biohybrid' that crawls like a sea turtle on the beach – albeit extremely slowly.
A muscle from the slug's mouth helps the robot move, which is currently controlled by an external electrical field. Future iterations of the device will include ganglia – bundles of neurons and nerves that normally conduct signals to the muscle as the slug feeds – as an organic controller.

The Robot and the Sea Slug. Source; http://www.mirror.co.uk/science/swarms-biohybrid-robots-made-sea-8454977

"Berghia Sea Slug" Source: https://healingoceanstogether.wordpress.com/the-great-sea-slug-beauty-contest/

<more at http://www.wired.co.uk/article/crawling-robot-sea-slug; related articles and links: http://blog.case.edu/think/2016/07/18/researchers_build_a_crawling_robot_from_sea_slug_parts_and_a_3d_printed_body (Researchers build a crawling robot from sea slug parts and a 3-D printed body. Swarms could one day search the depths of fresh and saltwater. July 18, 2016) and https://3dprint.com/142921/biohybrid-sea-slug-robots/ (Case Western Reserve University Scientists Create "Biohybrid" Robots from Sea Slug Muscles and 3D Printed Parts. July 20, 2016)>