Science & Technology (Commonwealth Union) – The ability to use robotic model for medical testing has long been considered a preferred as it is considered more ethical when compared to animal testing, with the potential to deliver more accurate results. However, replicating similar model to the actual organ has been a challenge for researchers across the world.
Scientists from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia have created a soft robotic replica of the human heart that can simulate heart disease while offering a lifelike platform for evaluating the next generation of cardiac medical devices.
The team at UNSW Sydney developed a fully synthetic soft robotic heart that closely replicates the intricate anatomy and natural motion of the human heart. This innovation has the potential to improve treatment strategies, enhance the safety of medical devices and support more personalised patient care.
Detailed in Nature Communications and Advanced Science, the research presents a beating model of the heart’s left side featuring artificial heart valves, papillary muscles and chordae tendineae—essential structures responsible for normal heart function that are often damaged by disease.
The robotic heart can faithfully recreate the way faulty heart valves allow blood to leak backwards, a condition known as valve regurgitation. This reverse blood flow can significantly increase the risk of heart failure and other serious, potentially life-threatening complications.
The research team says the soft robotic heart could ultimately improve understanding of cardiac diseases, minimise the need for animal experiments, and give clinicians patient-specific models that allow them to test and plan treatments before carrying out medical procedures.
Lead researcher Scientia Associate Professor Thanh Nho Do from the University of New South Wales School of Biomedical Engineering and UNSW Medical Robotics Lab says the breakthrough is significant because cardiovascular disease continues to be the world’s biggest cause of death.
Scientia Associate Professor Do indicated that heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a complicated cardiac condition that frequently develops alongside other health issues, including hypertension, abnormal heart rhythms, kidney disease, obesity, and diabetes.
He further pointed out that since the condition can vary significantly from one person to another, creating medical devices that can effectively restore or support heart function remains a major challenge.
“The valves in the heart are also crucial for cardiac efficiency, but disease can cause them to become leaky or stiff. This can increase the workload of the heart and contribute to heart failure.
“Our broader goal is to build realistic artificial heart models that can help researchers understand disease and develop safer, more effective devices before they are tested on animals or reach patients.”
The UNSW-developed model is a soft and adaptable replica of the heart’s left side. Its internal chambers are created using silicone membranes, while soft robotic artificial muscles surrounding the structure recreate the natural squeezing and twisting motions of a beating heart.
Unlike traditional laboratory heart models, this soft robotic version includes the mechanisms that operate the mitral valve. In the human heart, this valve functions like a set of swinging doors, opening and closing with every heartbeat to allow oxygenated blood to move through the body while stopping it from flowing back in the wrong direction.
By incorporating this important physiological feature, the model enables researchers to replicate heart conditions where the mitral valve becomes faulty, causing blood to leak backwards.
Dr James Davies, a postdoctoral researcher in Do’s group indicated that the model is constructed from flexible materials and driven by artificial muscles positioned to replicate the layered muscle structure found in the human heart.
As a result of the simulator providing a controlled and reproducible testing environment, researchers believe it could minimise reliance on animal experiments in the early phases of developing medical devices.
