University of Colorado Boulder Professor Nicole Xu is developing biohybrid robotic jellyfish by integrating tiny microelectronic systems into the live animals.
Xu has about 15 to 20 moon jellyfish in her lab, where she studies the animals’ behaviors and is developing tiny devices that can control their swimming. The electricity in the devices activates the swimming muscles in the jellyfish and allows the scientists to control their movements.
“The idea is that jellyfish themselves are really energy efficient, and they’re found in a variety of different environments in the ocean already,” Xu said. “So why not outfit them with electronics and sensors so we can control their swimming and collect data for us?”…