Biohybrid Soft Robots that Sense Touch Through Living Neurons

This project will investigate methods for integrating living neurons into soft robotic systems as active sensing and information-processing elements, providing new capabilities for hybrid biological and engineered systems. The main thrusts are the development of materials called piezoionic hydrogels and the use of these materials in novel devices. Piezoionic materials consist of positive and negative ions dispersed within a polymer matrix. Deformation of the matrix, such as may occur due to mechanical contact, drives fluid and ion motion, producing temporary imbalances between ion species. These ion imbalances can be used to trigger a response in biological nerve or muscle cells. This project will investigate the use of piezoionic hydrogels for soft, biocompatible components that complement conventional electronic sensing and actuation and create new interfaces between soft robots and living cells. By advancing fundamental understanding of the transformation of touch into biological activity the research will promote progress at the intersection of robotics, neuroscience, and materials science. These efforts will be complemented by AI-based computer vision algorithms to combine the resulting tactile inputs with incomplete visual data to estimate object shapes and mechanical properties and to, in turn, interpret mechanical signals and guide robot behavior. The results will help meet a major challenge in robotics -- enabling machines to surpass the limitations of electronic sensors and computer algorithms, in order to perceive, interpret, and respond to multiple sources of stimulus as effectively as living organisms. The resulting knowledge is expected to contribute to future technologies for advanced manufacturing, assistive devices, wearable systems, and human–robot interaction, helping maintain United States leadership in robotics and bioinspired engineering. The project will also provide interdisciplinary training opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and high school students and will develop educational activities that invite broad participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. This project investigates mechanotransduction pathways to link mechanical deformation, ionic signaling, neural activity, and robotic decision-making. The research will enable soft hydraulic sensors to convert touch into pressure signals, engineer ionically active materials to transform pressure into biological stimuli, and deepen understanding on how living neurons encode information about contact forces and material properties. Experimental studies and predictive models will quantify pressure generation, ion transport, and neural responses across the coupled system. The project will further integrate neural activity with visual information to enable real-time estimation of object properties and adaptive robotic control. By establishing quantitative relationships between touch, neural encoding, and robotic behavior, this research will provide fundamental design principles for future robotic systems that combine biological and engineered components for sensing, information processing, and adaptive behavior. The resulting framework will advance understanding of how living neural systems can contribute to robotic perception and lay the groundwork for new approaches to bioinspired sensing and control. This project is supported by the cross-directorate Foundational Research in Robotics program, jointly managed and funded by the Directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.