One step closer to the Terminator? Experts reveal robot with 'real muscles' strong enough to jump, swim and grasp

Date:
Wed, 28 Oct 2026 23:10:00 +0000

Description:
Researchers have developed tissue-based muscle actuators that can enable robots to jump, swim, and grasp

FULL STORY
Flesh-covered robots that can walk, jump, swim and move among us may be
closer than we think. Researchers working out of ETH Zurich have been busy developing muscle actuators from centimeter-scale living tissue. These muscle actuators are the latest in a design program, and motion has been improved over 10 times compared with previous iterations.

In designing the biohybrid robots, the researchers have found that it isnt
all about the volume of muscle tissue. How the muscle and the bone (or in
this case, an artificial scaffold) interact is also important. Grown from mouse muscle cells, the results are being viewed as a new way of building robots.

Biohybrid muscle

The project is run from the ETH Zurich Soft Robotics Lab and is overseen by Professor Robert Katzschmann, who states that Were just beginning to build robots in a more natural way. The research focuses on biohybrids, which basically refers to integrating biological materials like muscle tissue with artificial, man-made materials like electronics or mechanical scaffold.

Design of the robots has evolved through the research to the current state, where the muscle tissue is secured to the scaffold using grooves that the tissue can attach to. Meanwhile, the robots are currently limited to motion within a nutrient solution intended to feed the muscles and keep them alive.

An interesting result from the research is that not all muscle actuators behave in the same way. This natural variability that comes from using living tissue contrasts with what is achievable with manufactured components.

Flesh for cyborgs

Development of flesh muscles for robots has taken place over
several years, with designs built on computer. Over what has been called an iterative process by co-lead author of the published study Aiste Balciunaite, the idea of a fixed form for our muscle geometry was eschewed in favor of designing the whole thing from scratch on the computer.

With previous systems, you sometimes had to look under a microscope to see
the flexing, Balciunaite adds, highlighting how far the project has come.

The video above demonstrates the range of movement that
can be performed by the muscle actuators, with the activity now
visible to the naked eye. Measuring over 1cm, the bioactuators can move and grasp, and are shown here swimming. Other biohybrid robots have been programmed to walk, managing to cover 6.2 millimeters a second.

Will these bio-attached structures develop into an army of time traveling, human-destroying cyborgs? Probably not, and as they have applications for exploration and medicine, we shouldn't be too concerned.

Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/one-step-closer-to-the-terminator-experts-reveal -robot-with-real-muscles-strong-enough-to-jump-swim-and-grasp

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Mike Powell wrote to All <=-

One step closer to the Terminator? Experts reveal robot with 'real muscles' strong enough to jump, swim and grasp

Which begs the question - I heard a comedian say, if we're designing a
robot to do housework, why does it need a grip strong enough to crush a
windpipe?


... An easement is the abandonment of a stricture
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Mike Powell wrote to All <=-

One step closer to the Terminator? Experts reveal robot
with 'real muscles' strong enough to jump, swim and grasp

Which begs the question - I heard a comedian say, if we're
designing a
robot to do housework, why does it need a grip strong enough
to crush a windpipe?

Exactly! It shouldn't need such a grip but I am sure the tech-bros each want to be the one who creates the strongest robot to make up for something else lacking in their lives.

Mike


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Mike Powell wrote to Kurt Weiske <=-

Exactly! It shouldn't need such a grip but I am sure the tech-bros
each want to be the one who creates the strongest robot to make up for something else lacking in their lives.

Why does it seem founders are filled with people motivated by not being
able to work for others or people trying to fill a personal hole?



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Mike Powell wrote to Kurt Weiske <=-

Exactly! It shouldn't need such a grip but I am sure the
tech-bros each want to be the one who creates the
strongest robot to make up for something else lacking in
their lives.

Why does it seem founders are filled with people motivated by
not being
able to work for others or people trying to fill a personal
hole?

Well, I am not certain that is always correct. That said, I did read a book several years ago where the author explores, among other things, the possibility that all corporate CEOs are sociopaths. It is called "The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry," written by Jon Ronson and published in 2011. Very interesting read.

My theory is that these folks are good BS artists that are often otherwise incompetent at their jobs. They get promoted.

Mike

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Hello Mike!

** On Sunday 01.11.26 - 15:26, Mike Powell wrote to Kurt Weiske:

Why does it seem founders are filled with people motivated by not
being able to work for others or people trying to fill a personal
hole?

Well, I am not certain that is always correct. That said, I did read a book several years ago where the author explores, among other things, the possibility that all corporate CEOs are sociopaths. It is called "The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry," written by Jon Ronson and published in 2011. Very interesting read.

Thanks for mentioning it. Sounds like a book worth checking out! It's from 2012, but still high on the re-stock scale at bookshops.

I didn't relialize that Ronson was the author of "The Men Who Stare at Goats". A film was based on that, BTW.

My theory is that these folks are good BS artists that are often
otherwise incompetent at their jobs. They get promoted.

But.. the book recognizes that there are quite a few successful/effective CEOs who would identify as psychpaths. So.. it may not necessarily all that bad? :D

BTW.. I've maintained a list of books that were either mentioned in my journey through the echos, or ones that I think would be interesting to others here:

https://bookmanager.com/browse/filter/x/LKGNq2BLMhTE/v/sequence

BTW.. Ronson has a new book out:

https://bookmanager.com/item/Fudr3xWxvfXmFu8U5gGsOg

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Hello Mike!

Well, I am not certain that is always correct. That said,
I did read a book several years ago where the author
explores, among other things, the possibility that all
corporate CEOs are sociopaths. It is called "The
Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry,"
written by Jon Ronson and published in 2011. Very
interesting read.

Thanks for mentioning it. Sounds like a book worth checking
out! It's from 2012, but still high on the re-stock scale at
bookshops.

I didn't relialize that Ronson was the author of "The Men Who
Stare at Goats". A film was based on that, BTW.

I thought it was a real good book. Parts are actually entertaining, while others are pretty sobering. I enjoyed the whole side-story about Ronson trying to figure out who sent him a strange book out of the blue.

I also didn't realize he wrote the other book.

My theory is that these folks are good BS artists that are
often otherwise incompetent at their jobs. They get
promoted.

But.. the book recognizes that there are quite a few
successful/effective CEOs who would identify as psychpaths.
So.. it may not necessarily all that bad? :D

"Incompetent BS artists" was my theory, independent of what the book mentions. :) That is what I think of several of the tech-bros of this era. I don't think most of them were well known when the book came out in 2012.

The book does mention some leaders that are effective but could also be psychopaths. IIRC, it also mentioned at least one that Ronson thought would be a psycho/sociopath that maybe really wasn't... he was just bad at his job and/or didn't care about his employees.

Mike

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