News, living robots can now reproduce

Xenobots are “biological robots made from frog cells that can replicate by smooshing loose cells into new robots—a reproduction method not seen in any other organism.” These xenobots can move and heal themselves, and when brought together, can combine to construct new xenobots, which is what really impressed scientists. This discovery breaks new ground into the potential for reproduction with robots.

Scientists created the first Xenobots by extracting skin stem cells from frog embryos and grew them in salt water. The researchers then employed artificial intelligence to forecast which xenobot forms would be most effective at this type of collecting activity. The supercomputer chose a Pac-Man-like arrangement, so the researchers put it to the test by painstakingly slicing the naturally spherical xenobots into various forms. The micro Cs were the most effective in creating “baby” xenobots that reproduced themselves, resulting in numerous “generations” of bots, as anticipated by the algorithm.

According to the Washington Post, the researchers plan to further their study by making biological robots out of mammalian cells. They want to eventually improve the robots’ intelligence to the point where they can function independently of humans.

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