Fig. 4: Xenobots respond to acoustic vibrations by changing motion behavior.

A Experimental setup for exposure of subjects to 300 Hz acoustic vibration and time lapse recording of motion behavior for 10 min before exposure, 10 min during exposure, and 10 min after exposure. Created with BioRender.com. B–H Time lapse recording of motion behavior of day 1 non-ciliated, non-motile Xenobots, age-matched stage 35 Xenopus embryos, and day 7 autonomously motile Xenobots, along with motion tracking of their behavior and quantification of change in peak velocity from baseline during interval of 300 Hz vibration stimulus. B, D, F Representative image of day 1 non-motile Xenobots, age-matched stage 35 Xenopus embryos treated with tricaine to inhibit muscle movement while leaving cilia-based motion intact, and day 7 autonomously motile Xenobots, respectively. Scale bar = 5 mm. C, E, G Representative tracking of day 1 non-motile Xenobots, age-matched stage 35 embryos, and day 7 autonomously motile Xenobots, respectively, across the time intervals of before, during, and after 300 Hz vibration stimulus. H Quantification of change in peak velocity (millimeters/min) between the time intervals of before and during 300 Hz vibration stimulus. Data represented as mean ± SD. Xenobot Day 1—n = 9, Embryos St 35—n = 5, Xenobots Day 7—n = 7, ns-non-significant, **p < 0.01, ****p < 0.0001, repeated measures One-Way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test.