A collaborative research team consisting of Yo Tanaka, unit leader of the Integrated Biodevices Research Unit, RIKEN QBiC Research Center, and Associate Professor Norihiro Kamamichi of Tokyo Denki University, has developed a small pump equipped with mizu muscle.
One of the development goals of clean technology is to build a machine that naturally reduces materials without depending on external power supply.Machines made from living organisms are the ideal form of clean technology.In addition, while cutting-edge research fields such as analysis of trace samples and development of implantable devices require miniaturization of pumps, conventional mechanical engineering has limitations in miniaturization due to obstacles such as power supplies and wires. rice field.
Therefore, the research team devised that a compact and efficient pump could be realized by using biological muscle tissue.Focusing on the body wall muscles of earthworms, which have excellent controllability, response speed, and contractile force, the muscles of Megascolecidae are made into a sheet to measure the contractile force against electrical stimulation.It was confirmed that it can be used as a drive element for pumps.After that, when we made a prototype of "earthworm pump" using earthworm muscle, it became clear that it has a function comparable to the existing pump of the same size.
In this study, electricity is used for stimulation, but the driving energy source is adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is a common energy source for living organisms.If a structure similar to earthworms can be artificially manufactured, electrical stimulation may not be necessary, so it will be one of the future models for the development of ultra-micro pumps.Furthermore, it is expected to be applied in all fields such as industry and medical care, such as robots in sewer pipes and robots in blood vessels where it is difficult to use electricity.
