First babies conceived with 'sperm robot' using PlayStation 5 controller born

In what comes as a major technological breakthrough, the first babies ever created using a sperm-injecting robot have been reportedly born in the US. The cutting-edge procedure could lower the cost of In vitro Fertilisation (IVF) by thousands of dollars, making it accessible to even the poorest.

According to MIT’s Technology Review, engineers in Barcelona, Spain developed and designed the sperm-injecting robot which was sent to New York City's New Hope Fertility Center for the test. After assembling the robot, one of the engineers who had no experience in fertility medicine used a Sony PlayStation 5 controller to penetrate a human egg using a mechanised needle - dropping off a single sperm cell in the process successfully.

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Cumulatively, the robot managed to fertilise more than a dozen eggs which developed into healthy embryos and have now been born as two baby girls, with the scientists claiming them as the first infants born after fertilisation by a 'robot'.

“I was calm. In that exact moment, I thought, ‘It’s just one more experiment,’” Eduard Alba, the student mechanical engineer who commanded the sperm-injecting device was quoted as saying in the publication.

Meanwhile, one of the parents of the girl could not believe that such a scientific breakthrough happened in reality.

“It’s wild, isn’t it? Until now it had always been done manually.”

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Spanish startup making the breakthrough

Notably, the technology and the robot have been developed by a startup company named 'Overture Life' which has already raised nearly $37 million in funding from investors including Khosla Ventures and Susan Wojcicki, the former CEO of YouTube.

The main aim of the technology is to reduce the costs associated with IVF.Currently, a single attempt at getting pregnant in the US using IVF can cost upwards of $20,000. The procedure requires trainedembryologists who have to handle the eggs and sperm delicately undera microscope and use ultra-thin hollow needles to complete the fertilisation process.

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However, with the sperm-injecting robot, the patients will not even need to visit a fertility clinic, in addition to spending a lot less.

“[IVF] has to be cheaper. And if any doctor could do it, it would be,” saidSantiago Munné, the prize-winning geneticist who is chief innovation officer at the Spanish company.

''Think of a box where sperm and eggs go in, and an embryo comes out five days later,'' he added.

The critics, however, say the robot still does not solve the problem of ageing eggs which is one of the major reasons why fertility treatments fail.

(With inputs from agencies)

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