Watch a robotic shoulder follow twisting and stretching human cells

“Using robots for tissue engineering creates much more realistic biomechanical stimulations, which I see as a breakthrough,” says Dana Damian, a lecturer on the University of Sheffield, who was not concerned within the examine. “The next step is to establish that robot involvement shows a clear improvement over using conventional bioreactors.”

The know-how may very well be used to supply tissue to restore tears within the rotator cuff tendons, a quite common shoulder subject that may come up from a sports activities damage or a illness similar to tendinitis, which is the most typical reason for shoulder ache in adults. Typically, surgeons use sutures to reattach damaged tendons to the bone, a restore that fails in round 40% of circumstances due to poor tissue therapeutic. Tissue grafts grown utilizing stimulation from humanoid robots may heal extra efficiently. 

The method continues to be a way from producing a totally purposeful tendon tissue graft, however the researchers say an analogous strategy may produce other purposes as properly–creating higher muscle groups or ligaments in bioreactors, for instance. And the robots may very well be made to match the affected person’s personal physiology, personalizing the tissue they produce, the group suggests.

Correction: The title of the journal has been amended.