Researchers from the University of Vermont and Tufts University, both in the US, publish a scientific article in which they report that their Xenobots are already able to group hundreds of cells as “baby” robots.
“Living robot”, is the name given to the process of biological self-replication that tiny machines, the Xenobots, manage to carry out, resulting in their own reproduction, according to a publication by the magazine. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
How does Xenobost work?
Xenobosts are built from embryonic stem cells, specifically, an African frog. These machines can move and survive in the body for weeks, interacting with cells by preprogrammed functions.
Thus, it is possible to say that these robots are part machine and part biological, to the point that experts already consider them a new type of life:
“Xenobosts are completely new life forms never seen in the wild. They are neither traditional robots nor a known species of animal. They’re a new class of artifacts,” commented Joshua Bongard, a research officer at the University of Vermont.
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reproduction
Even without being the main objective of the study, the researchers found the possibility of programming a Xenobot, via Artificial Intelligence, to compress stem cells with the mixture of their genetic material and create a new cell, a kind of offspring.
However, the “son” of Xenobot usually dies shortly after its conception, which does not allow the process to continue. The researchers’ goal now is to understand the reasons for this sudden death.
“If we knew how to tell collections of cells what we wanted them to do, that would be regenerative medicine – this is the solution to traumatic injuries, birth defects, cancer and aging,” commented Michael Levin, study co-author and biologist at Tufts University, second Look Digital portal.
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