Data from: Optogenetic neuromuscular actuation of a miniature electronic biohybrid robot

Neuronal control of skeletal muscle function is ubiquitous across species
for locomotion and doing work. Especially, emergent behaviors of neurons
in biohybrid neuromuscular systems can advance bioinspired locomotion
research. Although recent studies have demonstrated that chemical or
optogenetic stimulation of neurons can control muscular actuation through
the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), the correlation between neuronal
activities and resulting modulation in the muscle responses is less
understood, hindering the engineering of high-level functional biohybrid
systems. Here, we develop NMJ-based biohybrid crawling robots with
optogenetic mouse motor neurons, skeletal muscles, 3D-printed hydrogel
scaffolds, and integrated on-board wireless micro light-emitting diode
(μLED)-based optoelectronics. We investigate the coupling of the light
stimulation and neuromuscular actuation through power spectral density
(PSD) analysis. We verify the modulation of the mechanical functionality
of the robot depending on the frequency of the optical stimulation to the
neural tissue. We demonstrate continued muscle contraction up to 20
minutes after a 1 minute long pulsed 2 hertz optical stimulation of the
neural tissue. Furthermore, the robots were shown to maintain their
mechanical functionality for over 2 weeks. This study provides insights
into reliable neuronal control with optoelectronics, supporting
advancements in neuronal modulation, biohybrid intelligence, and
automation.