Ever since science fiction planted the idea of self-replicating robots in our brains, people have feared them. Scientists have now taken a big step on this path. They created them Xenobots
, fully biological robots made from frog stem cells, which thanks to AI-determined shape are able to reproduce themselves under certain conditions. The Xenobots can also work together and heal each other by removing part of the body.
Although the biorobots are still at the very beginning of their development, the researchers are already recognizing a wide range of future fields of application for the tiny creatures. From medical use in the human body to the removal of radioactive waste to cleaning the oceans of microplastics – the xenobots could apply as ambassadors for Utopia.
On the other hand, it is worrying that they are partly funded by the research department of the US Department of Defense.
How do the micro robots work?
Xenobots were developed completely biologically and without genetic manipulation, like CNN reported. Researchers at the US Universities of Vermont and Harvard took stem cells from the clawed frog (scientific name: Xenopus laevis) and let them grow. Originally, tiny, round-shaped organisms emerged from this.
At first, the less than a millimeter large blobs seemed to swim around aimlessly in Petri dishes. The researchers added stem cells, i.e. non-specialized, biological building blocks that can develop into all possible cell types. Then the researchers observed the unbelievable: Occasionally the xenobots formed tiny clusters of cells from which new xenobots eventually developed. But this process was very rare.
So, using AI technology, the researchers calculated the ideal shape so that the xenobots could reproduce more efficiently. The result was a C-shape that is reminiscent of the classic video game character Pac-Man. Now the researchers used scissors and tweezers and shaped the Xenobots like tiny Pac-Mans to optimize reproduction.
With success: As the researchers noted in their study, which has been published and checked by experts, the Xenobots now reproduce themselves much more efficiently. In the video you can marvel at the tiny Pac-Mans in action:
Link to YouTube content
Form as programming
Of the study is called Kinematic self-replication in reconfigurable organisms
, in Europe Kinematic self-replication in reconfigurable organisms
. Senior writer Josh Bongard explains how the Xenobots are programmed as follows:
The AI did not program these machines the way we normally imagine. She shaped and modeled them and developed this Pac-Man shape in the process. The shape is basically the program. She influences how the Xenobots behave to amplify this incredibly surprising process.
Artificial intelligence is being used in more and more areas, even for cheats in our favorite online games:
Artificial intelligence
The next generation of cheats?
Explosive implications
As funny as it may sound at first, that tiny Pac-Mans are best at collecting small white dots, the background is just as unsettling. These are reproductive bio-robots that are also co-funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Department of Defense. The thought step to a military application is not very far.
A practical application does not yet exist. However, the researchers want to continue working on it so that the Xenobots can take on special tasks in the future. Previous ideas include problem solving in medicine or waste disposal. What interest the US Department of Defense could have in the Xenobots remains open.
