‘Robot Hand’ Developed Using Muscles Cultured from Human-Derived Cells

The Yomiuri Shimbun

7:00 JST, February 23, 2025

A team of researchers from the University of Tokyo and Waseda University has succeeded in creating a biohybrid hand that operates with muscles cultured from human-derived cells.

The research was disclosed in the scientific journal Science Robotics.

With an overall length of 18 centimeters, it is the world’s largest “robot hand” of its kind, the team said. The hand is expected to be applied to artificial arms that move by muscle contractions and robots that move smoothly like humans.

The team cultured human skeletal muscle cells to create a 3-centimeter-long elongated muscle. It then developed a device that allows the muscle to contract and bend the joints of the fingers when the cultured muscle is connected with the biohybrid hand soaked in a culture solution and stimulated with electricity. Five fingers can also move independently.

Thick muscles are needed to move large robots, but cells in thick muscles tend to die because nutrition does not reach their center. The team managed to solve the problem by bundling together multiple elongated cultured muscles and creating a gap where nutrients could be distributed, succeeding in enlarging the biohybrid hand. Previously, a robotic hand’s size was limited to being within a few centimeters long.

Although the hand does not yet have the strength to move objects, “We would like to improve it until it becomes able to lift an apple,” said Shoji Takeuchi, a professor at the University of Tokyo.

“This is an important achievement because if it also becomes possible to combine nerve cells that transmit commands from the brain, we can expect to produce an artificial arm that moves smoothly with a small amount of energy,” said Prof. Toshinori Fujie of the Institute of Science Tokyo.