The micro4nano bio and human interface MEMS research activity can be considered as an exploitation of the concepts and devices developed in the other research activities of Smart Materials Platform in a very challenging application.

The examples have been chosen to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed concepts not only on space humanoid robotics but also on other aspects of automation for space missions and activities.

In particular the research is aimed at the development of a MEMS platform for the study of two main aspects related to human and robotic operation in space. The first one is the human machine interface intended as a deep integration of sensing and actuation functions for manned robots operation. The second is related to the effects of space environment (microgravity, cosmic rays, …) on cells, tissues and on the overall astronaut physiology.

A deeper understanding of the biological aspects of space environment seems to be of crucial importance for human space exploration and for novel forms of bio-robots integrating biological materials and electronics-mechanics components.