Soft robotic systems often present bio-mimicking designs that resemble actuation mechanisms of certain biological organisms, such as for example in swimmers resembling fish or flagellated organisms. However, there are some unique properties from living organisms that are specially challenging to obtain in their artificial counterparts, such as self-healing, adaptability, or bio-sensing capabilities. Among these capabilities, it should be remarked the high level of adaptability, activity and autonomy that such biomaterials present, following the three principles of animacy. In the field of bio-hybrid robotics, several platforms across different scales had been developed, but the ones based on living muscles has attracted increasing attention. Regarding the design and fabrication of these robotic platforms, 3D printing technologies are particularly advantageous for creating advanced living robots incorporating skeletal muscle cells. While biohybrid swimming robots generally resemble the design and motion principle of animals, exploring alternative configurations that are not bio-mimetic is of great interest, especially when providing additional advantages, like mechanical self-stimulation. Additionally, the integration of nanomaterials in the cell-laden scaffold resulted in an enhanced force output. In this talk, alternative 3D printing techniques to generate living robots either at bigger or smaller scales to the small scales will be also presented, as well as emergent shape configurations under controlled stress. Another important challenge in the development of such living robots is the integration of control systems, which could be aimed at guidance purposes to gather real time information over robot performance (i.e., exerted force). Overall, the key features when designing these new generation of robots using living components as active material will be discussed, as well as their main applications in the biomedical and the environmental field and how such biohybrid platform can be envisioned as highly functional animated matter.