Event
Mechanical Engineering Seminar: MIT's Harry Asada, "Bio-BotsBio-Integrated Robotics"
Friday, March 30, 2012
2:00 p.m.
2164 Glenn L. Martin (DeWalt Conference Room)
Jaydev Desai
301 405 4427
jaydev@umd.edu
Bio-Bots: Bio-Integrated Robotics Using Live Cells as Components
Harry Asada
Ford Professor of Engineering
Director, Brit and Alex dArbeloff Laboratory for Information Systems and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Live cells and tissues cultured in microfluidic in vitro environment can be used as components of a robot. Skeletal muscles, for example, serve as actuators for powering a micro-robot or an artificial animal. Muscle strips can be formed from their precursory cells, myoblasts, by guiding them through multi-stage myogenic process. Muscle strips co-fabricated with a robotic structure can activate a high DOF micro mechanism, to which today actuators cannot be applied. Such live biological materials have the potential to be a game-changing technology in designing robotic systems and extending their applications to broader fields. This talk will introduce the state-of-the-art of bio-artificial muscles and other key biological components, and address potentials and challenges of bio-integrated robots. Three thrusts of bioengineering and control technologies will be highlighted. First, skeletal muscle cells are genetically altered so that each muscle strip can be controlled individually with high spatiotemporal resolution: Optogenetics. When exposed to a light beam, a group of light-sensitive muscle strips contract locally and dynamically, creating multi DOF motion in a compact body. Second, a new culturing technique is developed for creating 3-D fascicle-like muscle constructs, which is a key step for scaling up the bio-artificial muscles to a large-scale functional muscle. Finally, a new stochastic control method for controlling a population of cells and micro-tissues will be discussed. While individual cells and tissues are inevitably heterogeneous and stochastic, their population behaviors are stable and functional in a wide range. A new approach is needed for in vitro control of cells and tissues to assure robust, reliable behaviors. The talk will conclude with future research agenda on Bio-Bots at the NSF Science and Technology Center, Emergent Behaviors of Integrative Cellular Systems, where the speakers group has been participating.
Biography
H. Harry Asada is Ford Professor of Engineering and Director of the Brit and Alex dArbeloff Laboratory for Information Systems and Technology in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in precision engineering in 1973, 1975, and 1979, respectively, all from Kyoto University, Japan. He specializes in robotics, biological engineering, and system dynamics and control. His current research in the biological engineering area includes bio-artificial muscles, angiogenesis, modeling and control of cell migration, and cell tracking image processing. His current robotics research includes wireless micro underwater robots for direct inspection of nuclear reactors, aircraft manufacturing robotics, wearable supernumerary robotic limbs for assisting factory workers and astronauts, and cellular PZT actuators. He won the Best Conference Paper Award at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in 1993 and 1999, its Best Automation Paper Award in 1997, and 2010, the O. Hugo Schuck Best Paper Award from the American Control Council in 1985, and Best Journal Paper Awards from the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers in 1979, 1984, and 1990. He received the Rufus Oldenburger Medal from ASME in 2011, and the Henry Paynter Outstanding Researcher Award from ASME Dynamic Systems and Control in 1998. He also received the Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Distinguished Teaching from the School of Engineering, MIT, for his contribution to robotics education. Dr. Asada is a Fellow of ASME.
