The First Robots Made with Living Cells
Scientists have achieved something never done before, manufacturing Xenobots made up of living cells. It is believed that these robots, identified as living things...
The First Robots Made with Living Cells
Scientists have achieved something never done before, manufacturing Xenobots made up of living cells. It is believed that these robots, identified as living things, will be beneficial in many areas.
If stem cells from embryonic frogs could develop naturally in other living things, they could turn into living, breathing skin and cardiac tissue. But scientists combined these cells with robots designed with algorithms to make a robot consisting entirely of living cells, which they call Xenobots.
Planned to be used for a wide range of purposes, from drug use to environmental improvements, Xenobots were created as small structures that are less than a millimeter in size, can be self-organized and contain 500 to 1000 cells.
"These are new living machines," said Joshua Bongard, a computer and robotics scientist at the University of Vermont. "They are neither an ordinary robot nor a known animal species. This is a new man-made tribe: A living, programmable organism," he added.
These robots were able to move in an aqueous environment for up to 1 week without the need for additional nutrients powered by lipids and proteins. Although research teams describe them as 'living', xenobots cannot evolve on their own, when the cells run out of nutrients, they become a small cluster of dead cells.
SOURCE/CREDIT: WEBTEKNO
If stem cells from embryonic frogs could develop naturally in other living things, they could turn into living, breathing skin and cardiac tissue. But scientists combined these cells with robots designed with algorithms to make a robot consisting entirely of living cells, which they call Xenobots.
Planned to be used for a wide range of purposes, from drug use to environmental improvements, Xenobots were created as small structures that are less than a millimeter in size, can be self-organized and contain 500 to 1000 cells.
"These are new living machines," said Joshua Bongard, a computer and robotics scientist at the University of Vermont. "They are neither an ordinary robot nor a known animal species. This is a new man-made tribe: A living, programmable organism," he added.
These robots were able to move in an aqueous environment for up to 1 week without the need for additional nutrients powered by lipids and proteins. Although research teams describe them as 'living', xenobots cannot evolve on their own, when the cells run out of nutrients, they become a small cluster of dead cells.
SOURCE/CREDIT: WEBTEKNO