Robots | Living small robots, or xenobots, have learned to reproduce – could they be used as a form of treatment?

Last The “living robots” or xenobots built from the cells, introduced in 2006, have learned to multiply, the researchers say.

Tiny xenobots, typically less than a millimeter in size, are constructed from the cells of the embryo of the African claw frog.

Xenobots are made to move in different ways as researchers change the shape of xenobots as well as the locations of pulsating muscle cells.

The xenobots created are so far quite simple and no practical applications have been invented for them.

Read more: A mini-robot made of cells is like a new way of life.

With xenobots there is no metabolism like biological organisms, so they are unable to utilize food. So they live only on the energy put into them during the construction phase. When the energy storage is depleted, they die.

So far, xenobots have only lived for a few days. At first, it was thought that xenobots would not be able to proliferate. However, the perception changed due to a peculiar observation.

Set xenobots, i.e. in a culture dish with remaining detached cells. The circular xenobots, consisting of about 3,000 cells, pushed these loose cells as they moved.

Because the cells were sticky, dense piles were formed from the detached detached cells. At five days, the piles began to move on their own as the muscle cells in them throbbed.

So new xenobots had been born.

At first new xenobots were born infrequently and occasionally. Researchers are working to increase the efficiency of new bot formation. With the help of artificial intelligence, they created a new xenobot that was a bit like Pac-Man, familiar from the computer game.

As the new xenobot moved in the medium, it collected hundreds of cells into its mouth-like cavity. There, the cells squeezed together and formed a new xenobot again.

The xenobot thus multiplies by collecting cells from its environment and putting them together. It does not resemble the way any known species species produces offspring.

Of course, the resort has clear limitations. At least for now, reproduction is usually only possible for one generation. In only one of the five experiments was the third generation obtained without human assistance.

“The offspring independently created by xenobots are largely too small and weak to form their own offspring,” said a professor at the University of Vermont. Josh Bongard At the University of Vermont In an interview with the Guardian. He is one of the creators of xenobots.

The study was published by the U.S. Academy of Sciences PNAS.

With xenobots there are no practical applications yet. However, Bongard says he hopes that they could be developed in the future.

Based on computer simulations, it would appear that xenobots could be used to repair circuits. A more distant dream would be medical use. Xenobots could even repair internal damage.