This is the World’s First ‘Living’ Robot
Scientists from the University of Vermont and Tufts University have created ‘xenobots,’ the first living, self-healing robots.
Artificial intelligence.
When you hear that, you think robots, computer chips, the voice assistant in our phones, and self-driving cars. Recently, scientists from the University of Vermont and Tufts University have taken AI technology to a whole new level.
Meet xenobots, the first ‘living,’ self-healing robots made using skin and heart cells derived from stem cells in frog embryos. They are unlike most robots, in that they are not made of plastic or metal but entirely out of organic cell material. They are human-made robots — yet they’re alive.
These robots were named ‘xenobots’ after the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), which they get their stem cells from. The machines are about 0.04 inches wide, less than a millimeter, which is small enough to travel through the human body. They can work together, swim, walk, and even survive for weeks without food.
“Traditional robots degrade over time and can produce harmful ecological and health side effects,” said researchers in the study. The study also stated that xenobots are more environmentally friendly and safer for human health, allowing xenobots to be an effective solution to the problem of robot degradation. Joshua Bongard, one of the lead researchers at University of Vermont, even said,
“These are novel living machines, they’re neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal. It’s a new class of artifact: a living, programmable organism.”
How Were They Made?
I mentioned that the xenobots were made of skin and heart cells derived from frog stem cells. Stem cells are unspecialized cells that can develop into different cell types. However, that just leaves us with more questions. Were they made manually? With super precise robots? Were they 3-D printed? The answer to all of these questions is yes, as the method in which xenobots are made implement both precise technology along with using hand and tool.
First, researchers scrape living stem cells from frog embryos and leave them to incubate. Next, a supercomputer designs specific “body forms” for the cells to be cut and reshaped into and does this multiple times to figure out which model has the best movement. According to a news release by UVM, these models are ‘forms never seen in nature.’ Then, the researchers use these computer-generated designs for modeling the actual cells. Technicians go through a very intense process to model every cell one-by-one and then attach it to the rest of the cells.
For example, xenobots with a snowplow-like appendage in the front can sweep up loose particles such as those in a Petri dish overnight and deposit them in a pile. Some have a leg-like addendum to shuffle around on the floor of the Petri dish. Others can swim by using cilia to spin around.
The xenobots are preloaded with lipids and proteins, allowing them to live for about a week, but they can’t reproduce or evolve. However, this lifespan can increase to several weeks in nutrient-rich environments.
How Are They Living ‘Robots’?
Although these xenobots are certainly a great innovation, their organic structure and appearance don’t look like the high-tech robots you tend to see on TV.
According to Britannica, a robot is “any automatically operated machine that replaces human effort, though it may not resemble human beings in appearance or perform functions in a human-like manner.”
However, the xenobots don’t have little Bluetooth chips inside of them or some kind of remote control device for scientists to direct the bots, so how can they make robots entirely of organic material?
This is the question that the researchers wanted to answer: whether they could take real cells and manipulate them to make them behave in a way that the researchers wanted them to, much like a robot made of plastic or metal would do. We know that the structure of the xenobot is made of frog heart and skin cells, but why does that matter?
Well, heart cells naturally contract while skin cells don’t, so the researchers’ idea was that they could put skin cells and heart cells together in a specific structure, model, or position and use this as a functional ‘living robot’ that can move around and self-heal.
Based on the positions of the non-contractible skin cells and contractible heart cells, the xenobots can move in different ways. In the diagram shown here, we can see that the computer-generated model with skin cells (shown in blue) on top and heart cells (red/green) on the bottom result in a xenobot able to do a waddling motion with its leg-like appendages. Depending on the structures that the computer generates, the xenobot will perform certain movements like waddling, swimming, and even spinning around.
Why Does This Matter?
Well, we see that xenobots are certainly something that can help the world, but how? How can this concept help millions of lives around the world while being as wide as a stick of pencil lead?
It can lead to a new era of public health.
As I said, xenobots are tiny. If we wanted to, we could send xenobots carrying medicine into the human body or even scrape out plaque from our arteries. Moreover, they can replicate themselves to correct a genetic deficiency or replace DNA molecules. They could serve as miniature surgeons that can be used to repair damaged cells or entirely replace intracellular structures.
They can help collect microplastics in the oceans.
The amount of plastic in our oceans has significantly increased over the years. There is even a garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean the size of Texas! Solving this problem would be extremely beneficial to aquatic species and the quality of our water supply. If xenobots were sent out into the oceans to collect microplastics, the impact would benefit everyone.
They could be used to clean up radioactive waste.
Nuclear waste can drastically affect life by causing cancerous growths or causing genetic problems for many flora and fauna. Even if nuclear energy can be efficient, we have to find more effective solutions to clean up after it. Xenobots have the potential to solve this dangerous problem of nuclear waste. If we release them into waste-prone areas, they can make a real difference.
They can help scientists learn more about cell biology.
Aside from the practical tasks listed above, the xenobots could also help researchers learn more about cell biology by opening the doors to future advancement for human health and longevity. The researchers’ website even stated,
“If we could make 3D biological form on demand, we could repair birth defects, reprogram tumors into normal tissue, regenerate after traumatic injury or degenerative disease, and defeat aging.”
Xenobots may sound like something straight out of a sci-fi movie, but researchers say there is no reason to worry. Although the supercomputer — a powerful piece of artificial intelligence — plays a big role in building these robots, it’s unlikely that the AI could have evil intentions.
The researchers’ website said, “At the moment though it is difficult to see how an AI could create harmful organisms any easier than a talented biologist with bad intentions could.”
I believe that these xenobots have great potential in the future. Although they are an amazing discovery, we still have more work to do. As we make these organic robots more advanced, intelligent, and more AI-integrated, we can send these xenobots around the world to make the world cleaner and save lives.
We are challenging the line between biological and digital, and the advancements we can make in the future can certainly change the fields of medicine, biology, and artificial intelligence forever.
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