Design and Development of a Robotic Tool for Tissue Engineering Purposes

This thesis presents a novel robotic bioreactor designed to cultivate cell-seeded constructs. The bioreactor is capable of stiffness-based control, stimulating tissue growth and development through uni-axial mechanical loading. The bioreactor system consists of an actuator, a force sensor, a tissue culture chamber, and a control system capable of monitoring and adjusting stimulation of a cell-seeded construct depending on the real-time stiffness of the growing tissue. The system was designed to provide adaptive stimulation which could improve the growth and development of engineered tissues, with the aim of improving the quality and functionality of the resulting tissue constructs. The system was evaluated using a range of bench-top experiments to characterise the displacement accuracy, force measurement accuracy, and the chamber’s ability to isolate the tissue construct from the external environment. Further experimentation into implementing stiffness-based control and in vitro protocols was also explored. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the system’s advantages and disadvantages, with emphasis on the future steps that need to be taken to achieve a working robotic bioreactor. Overall, the robotic bioreactor represents a transformative advancement in the field of tissue engineering, providing a new tool for the controlled stimulation of cell-seeded constructs.