Characterization and modeling of living cell based actuation for bio-syncretic robot development

Energy efficiency and intrinsic safety are two critical challenges faced by traditional robots based on electro-mechanical systems. Bio-syncretic actuators may provide clues to overcome these challenges. Cardiomyocytes are potential biological motors that can be used for bio-syncretic robots. Current researches on bio-hybrid robots mainly focus on the realization of bio-actuators at micro/nano-scale, but lack of quantitative description and understanding of bio-actuation. In this paper, we present a dynamic mathematical model of single cardiomyocyte cell for its autonomous beating activity and we use it to model and explain the nonlinear group effect of multi-layer cardiomyocyte structure. Experiments validated the model and it is demonstrated that the nonlinear group effect of multi-layer cardiomyocyte structure is mainly caused by the effect of substrate. This work is a fundamental but meaningful for the development of the bio-syncretic robots.