Cyborg jellyfish could soon become unlikely allies in the exploration of some of Earth’s most inaccessible ocean deaths, according to engineers at CU Boulder.
Deploying these moon jellyfish equipped with tiny electronic devices that stimulate their swimming muscles is one of the objectives of engineer Nicole Xu and her team, who says the cyborg technology could allow researchers to steer these ethereal-looking sea creatures to remote ocean depths where traditional tools are either ineffective, or simply too costly to operate.
Additionally, equipping these “cyborg jellies” with environmental sensors could even enable the collection of visual data that may help researchers combat climate change and other environmental issues impacting our deep oceans.
Harnessing Jellyfish Motion
Xu says she became captivated by moon jellies more than a decade ago, partially due to their unmatched efficiency as swimmers.
Now an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at CU Boulder, she says that fitting these formidable ocean creatures with a pacemaker-like device allows for the activation of contractions that turn the animals in specific directions.
In addition to their swimming prowess, moon jellies are some of the most energy-efficient animals known to exist. Their simple body plan has worked well for them over the last 500 million years with virtually no changes, and despite their harmless sting, they thrive in a range of diverse habitats around the world, ranging from coastlines to the depths of the Mariana Trench.
Because of their unique adaptability to a range of environments, they are also perfect candidates for studies involving biohybrid robotics.
Biohybrid Robotics for Cyborg Jellies
Initial tests were undertaken beginning in 2020, where Xu and her team successfully steered jellies around shallow waters off Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The promising results seemed to point to the likelihood that future studies might allow the creatures to lend an aquatic hand as living research tools, capable of venturing to areas where humans, and even the most advanced underwater drones, may struggle to go.
The pressing need for being able to monitor remote marine environments has become increasingly urgent in recent years on account of climate change, which has caused steadily warming and acidification in our oceans. Cyborg jellyfish could offer a way of producing low-cost, sustainable methods of tracking these changes, in addition to collecting useful data on a range of other ocean conditions.
Beyond their practical applications, Xu also says the jellyfish and the unique control of their motion could ultimately lead to future designs for new kinds of underwater vehicles.
“There’s really something special about the way moon jellies swim,” Xu said. “We want to unlock that to create more energy-efficient, next-generation underwater vehicles.”
Innovations in the Lab
Currently, Xu and her team are working to refine their methods for studying jellyfish movement through water. In a recent study, the team introduced biodegradable materials such as cornstarch in place of traditional synthetic tracers, which helped them visualize flow patterns illuminated by laser light.
Along with graduate student Charlie Fraga, Xu has also worked to find ways of improving jellyfish steering in open water. Similar efforts involving investigations into fluid dynamics with relation to these creatures and their movement has been carried out by graduate student Mija Jovchevska, and together, the group hopes to expand the toolkit for bio-inspired ocean research.
Balancing Science and Ethics
Of course, any kind of use of robotics to control living organisms raises some ethical questions, even for invertebrates like moon jellies. Growing evidence suggests these creatures may respond to harmful stimuli, and Xu says she is mindful of such concerns.
Stressed jellyfish, for instance, will secrete extra mucus, or even stop reproducing. However, she says her animals all appear to be healthy, with baby polyps proliferating within the tanks in her lab, seemingly showing that they are thriving.
“It’s our responsibility as researchers to think about these ethical considerations up front,” Xu said. “But as far as we can tell, the jellyfish are doing well.”
“They’re thriving,” Xu affirmed.
Xu and her team’s recent study, “Biodegradable tracer particles for underwater particle image velocimetry,” was published in Physical Review Fluids.
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.