First living robots created from frog cells: In USA

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- By Subham Mehta 



                     
Researchers from UNIVERSITY OF TUFTS with the UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT have created   the first living machines by the combination of  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE &  BIOLOGY .These living machines are the tiny robots built from  stem cells of the African clawed frog  .Xenobot is the name given to tiny robots.They have the ability of self-healing.

 One of the researchers described the creation as
" neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal,but a new class of artifact: a living , programmable  organism. "  

 So why these tiny robots have given the name Xenobots ?

    The name Xenobot is given after the species of aquatic frog Xenopus Laevis found across Sub-Saharan Africa from Nigeria and Sudan to South Africa.
   
Xenopus Laevis (Background)

  • Xenopus is a genus of African frog , commonly known as African clawed frog
  • Known to survive 15 or more years
  • hardy , fully aquatic and easy to maintain in the laboratory
  • eggs of this species are a reliable and flexible material for research


Xenopus Laevis



Characteristics of Xenobots

  Xenobots are less than 1mm long and made of 500-1000 living cells. They have various simple shapes,including some with squat  "legs" . They are novel living machines . While these      "reconfigurable biomachines  could vastly improve human , animal and environmental health,they raise ethical concerns and are legal.

 Are there ethical concerns? This first crop of Xenobots are very basic. But future versions could be made with nervous systems and sensory cells—even rudimentary cognitive abilities—which would allow them to react to their environment. It is far from clear whether we should treat such robots as machines or living creatures.

Possible Aspects

  • Xenobots can survive for weeks without nutrients
  • used to clean radioactive wastes , collect microplastics in the oceans
  • eco-friendly robots
  • may be used  to enter confined or dangerous areas to scavenge toxins






Creation of Xenobots

 To create Xenobots the research team used a supercomputer named as "Deep Green " to create thousands of candidate designs for the new life - forms from an Evolutionary algorithm. After      selection of the most promising designs , the scientists attempted to replicate the virtual models   
with frog skin and heart cells, joined manually using microsurgery tools , until they resembled a
close approximation of the computer's design.
                                                                          
STEM CELL OF FROG

The team that created the Xenobots said the project opens up many exciting avenues at intersection of robotics, biology and medicine.  "If we could make 3D biological form on demand, we could repair birth defects, reprogram tumours into normal tissue, regenerate  after  traumatic injury or degenerative disease, and defeat ageing," they said

 "Once we figure out how cells can be motivated to build specific structures, this will not only have a massive impact on regenerative medicine, but the same principles will lead to better robotics, communication systems, and maybe new (non-neurocentric) AI platforms."

The scientists have made the code for people to design their own virtual organisms available on open-source software.

 Other recent robotic developments that combine technology and biology include 3D-printed synthetic muscles and a robot-plant hybrid.



References


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