American scientists have created the first living robots, which were called xenobot. These forms of life, among other things, can be reproduced – and, in a way other than plants and animals.
Formed from stem cells of the African Clawed Frog (Xenopus Laevis), from which they received their name, xenobots have a width of less than a millimeter. Tiny creatures were first discovered in 2020 after the experiments showed – they can move, work together and self-set.
According to CNN, scientists who have developed them at the University of Vermont, the University of Tafts and the Institute of Biological Engineering Viss Harvard University, said they discovered a completely new form of biological reproduction, different from any animal or plant, known science.
Previously, scientists found that xenobots that originally had the shape of the ball and consisted of about 3,000 cells can be played. But it rarely happened and only under certain circumstances.
Then with the help of artificial intelligence, the researchers tested billions of body forms to make xenobots more efficient in this type of replication. The supercomputer created a C-shaped form, which resembled a character from the PAC-MAN, a famous video game of the 1980s. They found that xenobot is capable of finding tiny stem cells in Petri dish, collect them in the mouth. A few days later, the cell beam turns into new xenobots.
xenobots are very early technology – akin to computers of the 1940s – and still do not have practical application. However, according to researchers, this combination of molecular biology and artificial intelligence can potentially be used to solve a variety of tasks associated with the body and the environment.
Although the prospect of self-reproducing biotechnology can cause anxiety, researchers said that live cars were completely isolated in the laboratory and easily control them. Xenobots biodegradable and fully regulated by scientists.
The study was partially funded by the Agency of promising defense research projects, the Federal Agency, which is monitored by the development of technologies for military use.