Fluid-driven robotic micromanipulation for assembloid fabrication

The assembly of cellular spheroids into spatially organized assembloids represents a transformative paradigm for modeling complex biological systems. However, the lack of standardized fabrication strategies fundamentally limits the precision and reproducibility of these models, hindering their widespread application. Here, we present a robotic micromanipulation platform-Fluid-Driven Tweezer with Visual Servo Control (FDT-VSC). By integrating multidimensional visual perception with microfluidic control, our system enables the gentle and programmable assembly of diverse cellular spheroids. Leveraging this platform, we achieve the bottom-up construction of structurally defined, heterogeneous multicellular tissues, and the programmed orchestration of multilineage models that recapitulate the complex microenvironments of early organogenesis. Crucially, the system improves consistency during the scalable fabrication of tumor-stroma assembloids, supporting reliable drug screening. These results demonstrate that FDT-VSC advances assembloid-based applications across modular tissue engineering, developmental biology, and drug discovery.

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Publication Details

Journal
Science Advances
Published
2026-10-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aei8832
Primary Topic
3D Printing in Biomedical Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Fluid-driven robotic micromanipulation for assembloid fabrication

Huijun Gao, Xinghu Yu, Zhitai Liu, Mingsi Tong et al.
4 links
Science Advances
3D Printing in Biomedical Research
article

Fluid-driven robotic micromanipulation for assembloid fabrication

Huijun Gao, Xinghu Yu, Zhitai Liu, Mingsi Tong, Zhan Li, Li Zhang, Gang Huang, Songlin Zhuang, Wenqi Jia, Yang Wu
article en

Abstract

The assembly of cellular spheroids into spatially organized assembloids represents a transformative paradigm for modeling complex biological systems. However, the lack of standardized fabrication strategies fundamentally limits the precision and reproducibility of these models, hindering their widespread application. Here, we present a robotic micromanipulation platform-Fluid-Driven Tweezer with Visual Servo Control (FDT-VSC). By integrating multidimensional visual perception with microfluidic control, our system enables the gentle and programmable assembly of diverse cellular spheroids. Leveraging this platform, we achieve the bottom-up construction of structurally defined, heterogeneous multicellular tissues, and the programmed orchestration of multilineage models that recapitulate the complex microenvironments of early organogenesis. Crucially, the system improves consistency during the scalable fabrication of tumor-stroma assembloids, supporting reliable drug screening. These results demonstrate that FDT-VSC advances assembloid-based applications across modular tissue engineering, developmental biology, and drug discovery.

Science AdvancesVol. 12(44)
Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK), Harbin Institute of Technology (CN), State Key Laboratory of Robotics and Systems (CN), Yongjiang Laboratory (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Openalex Percentile: Top 25%
3D Printing in Biomedical Research
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Fluid-driven robotic micromanipulation for assembloid fabrication — Huijun Gao, Xinghu Yu, et al. · Science Advances (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS