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What looks a little like rotating Pac-Men from the well-known computer game are so-called Xenobots: organic micro-robots made from cells of the clawed frog Xenopus Iavis.
The rounds are less than a millimeter in diameter, about the size of poppy seeds.
And are doing something here that neither humans nor plants can do in this way.
Josh Bongard, computer scientist at the University of Vermont:
“We take skin cells from a frog egg and put them together.
Under certain conditions, this group of frog cells retains its shape and begins to move on its own in the fresh water of a Petri dish. "
The microorganisms collect hundreds of individual frog cells and push them together in a heap, from which a new, mobile Xenobot is created after about five days without any external influence.
With the help of artificial intelligence, Bongard and his colleagues designed for the first time these wedge-shaped Xenobots, reminiscent of Pac-Men, whose descendants continue to reproduce over many generations.
Josh Bongard, computer scientist at the University of Vermont:
“You come to places where classic robots cannot go.
They are biodegradable, genetically unchanged and biologically compatible.
In the long term, we could generate such biobots from human cells for medical purposes.
They will be ingested with food and allowed to do useful work in the body. "
The Xenobots could swim through the bloodstream and deliver targeted drugs.
And o since they come from frog cells, they would be particularly suitable for use underwater: as an aid in wastewater treatment or in desalination plants.
According to Bongard, the misuse of such a technology can only be prevented with clear rules and legal regulations.
