Robotic Stingray, Wyss Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Light-controlled cardiac muscle cells guide swimming of an artificial animal.

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The Robotic Stingray might sound like a new Sci-Fi movie, but this is realer than a $5 movie theater Diet Coke. Researchers designed this robo-ray to accurately mimic the movements of real stingrays.The fin contracts downward when a layer of rat muscle cells along the top of the ray are stimulated with lights. Stored energy causes the fins to move upward. Asymmetrical pulses of light direct the stingray to turn left or right. Different frequencies of light change the stingray’s speed. At only 16 millimeters long, it’s much less fearsome than the sort stingray you’d find in the wild.

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A team of researchers have found a way to meld bioinspiration with robotics and cybernetics with the creation of a fully controllable robotic ray that uses light-activated rat muscle cells to swim. The research has just been published in Science, and it’s impressive. And also adorable.

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