Dutch scientists build light-powered robotic arm using living algae and gel layers

Researchers use light to trigger living algae’s metabolism, enabling the tiny robotic arm to bend without electrical signals. Think of a robot without battery, without traditional motor and without complicated mechanical joints and only living microalgae, soft gels and source of light. That’s the unusual premise of a new experiment by researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, who have constructed a miniature actuator that can bend, grasp and lift objects underwater. The work offers a glimpse of such a future, where living organisms could become an active part of the robotic systems. Scroll down for more.Living cell robotPhys Org reports that the soft robotic strip is tiny, about two centimeters long and one millimeter thick, but its movement is surprisingly sophisticated. The actuator consists of two layers of hydrogel that respond differently when the chemical environment changes and microalgae grow over the surface of the actuator, the research report says.The report, published by Nature Communications, states the device utilizes the biological activity of the algae to generate movement rather than a traditional motor. They photosynthesize in the presence ...