A research team from the University of Tokyo and Waseda University announced Thursday that it has developed the largest-ever “biohybrid” hand that includes parts made of cultivated human tissue.
Led by Xinzhu Ren and Shoji Takeuchi from the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, and Yuya Morimoto, an associate professor at Waseda University’s Faculty of Science and Engineering, the team engineered a multijointed robotic hand with movement powered by living muscle tissue, measuring 18 centimeters long, with a palm size of 6 centimeters — around the same size as a newborn’s — and five fingers capable of independent motion.
The team’s findings were published in the online edition of Science Robotics.
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