In Ohio, developed a unique bio-hybrid robot combining brawn sea slug and electronic locomotor system.
Modern science is far from the creation of cyborgs that can replace the human completely. The concept of complex robotic androids until only exists in science fiction, but gradually, step by step, humanity is approaching its implementation. One of these steps was the creation of bio-hybrid robot Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio). The scientists used a muscle taken from the mouth of the sea slug in conjunction with printed on 3D-printers the electrical system. Muscle tissue under the influence of the current is reduced, allowing the robot to move – though its speed is only 0.43 centimeters per minute.
Researchers say that in the future robots, based on a hybrid combination of biological and electronic systems, will be able to fully replace their mechanical counterparts. The main argument is that the bio-hybrid technology may receive energy from their natural habitat of the live prototype without the use of batteries and battery chargers. Another important argument – such technology is practically not harm the planet’s ecology.
Robot Slug uses muscle cells taken from the mouth Aplysia california, also known as the California sea hare. This creature can live like on the ocean floor, and in a fairly shallow waters, also perfectly brings changes in temperature and salinity. “We create a robot that can perform a wider range of tasks than a specially trained animal or fully electronic mechanism”, – says Roger Quinn, director of Case Western Reserve’s Biologically Inspired Robotics Laboratory.
However, at the moment the robot hybrid is not able to perform any other tasks in addition to the slow motion in a circle. Such technologies and in fact can lead to large benefits in the future, but for now the main problem remains the creation of a system of control – mechanical muscular contractions themselves quite meaningless. The researchers claim that the next step is the implantation of robot neurons and nerve fibers slug, to create a semblance of an organic control panel. 
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