TOKYO, Feb 16 — A research team from the University of Tokyo and has unveiled the largest-ever “biohybrid” hand, featuring parts made from cultivated human tissue.
The team, led by Xinzhu Ren and Shoji Takeuchi from the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, and Yuya Morimoto from Waseda University’s Faculty of Science and Engineering, has developed a robotic hand that moves using living muscle tissue.
The hand measures 18cm long, with a 6cm palm size – described as roughly the size of a newborn’s hand – and five fingers capable of independent motion.
The team’s breakthrough was published in the February 2025 online edition of Science Robotics, a peer-reviewed journal that publishes cutting-edge research on robotics and its applications in science and technology.
The key innovation comes from a newly developed multiple muscle tissue actuator, a high-performance muscle structure made by bundling extremely thin strands of human tissue into a “sushi roll” formation.
This design ensures each strand receives sufficient nutrients, preventing necrosis and maintaining muscle fiber alignment, which has been a major obstacle in previous biohybrid designs.
Traditional biohybrids have typically been limited to about 1cm in size and only able to activate a single joint, but the new actuator design allows for longer contraction distances and greater force.
In the project, the skeletal framework and artificial muscles operate submerged in a culture solution within a tank.
When electrically stimulated, the muscles contract, pulling fine wires that bend the fingers, mimicking human muscle fatigue after about 10 minutes of use, followed by recovery after an hour by absorbing sugar from the solution.
By integrating this actuator with a robotic skeletal structure, the team demonstrated complex finger movements, such as replicating gestures and manipulating small objects with precision.
Although the hand can’t yet grasp or hold heavier objects, the research shows potential for future applications in prosthetics and drug testing models.
“A major goal of biohybrid robotics is to mimic biological systems. ... Our development (of the actuator) is an important milestone for achieving this.
“The field of biohybrid robotics is still in its infancy, with many foundational challenges to overcome. Once these basic hurdles are addressed, this technology could be used in advanced prosthetics and could also serve as a tool for understanding how muscle tissues function in biological systems, to test surgical procedures or drugs targeting muscle tissues,” said Takeuchi.
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