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Researchers at MIT have constructed a robotic fish consisting of a microprocessor that sends signals to live muscle taken from a frog in order to make it wiggle and swim through a solution of glucose. The robot fish swam around for a few minutes and then stopped to regain energy from the sugary waters.

MIT project, led by Hugh Herr, is funded by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is interested in developing exo-muscular suits. This would give soldiers abilities such as extra strength and increased speed.

There are also uses for prosthetic limbs, which would be more lifelike and quieter than their current mechanical counterparts.

However, issues still surround problems with sustaining muscle. Mr Herr wants to improve the bionic fish by adding a stomach to contain the glucose and a circulatory system to pump it round large muscles.