Biorobots

Robots in medicine

Main article: Robots in Medicine

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2023: Robots made from living cells capable of self-reproduction

In early April 2023, American scientists from the University of Vermont announced the development of miniature robots from living cells - the so-called xenobots. Their peculiarity lies in the possibility of self-reproduction.

A team of researchers led by Professor Josh Bongard has taken a fundamentally new approach to creating robotics. Instead of metal and plastic, experts used components "that in themselves are fantastically intelligent machines." In this case, we are talking about cells taken from frog embryos. Moreover, there is no need for genetic changes in this material.

Illustration of the work of xenobots

During the experiment, the researchers used a virtual petri dish and artificial intelligence algorithms. A special program simulated the development of a group of frog cells, based on their shape, to select those that are optimally suited for a specific task. The algorithm creates a population of virtual xenobots, removes those that do not cope well with their function, and forms randomly modified copies of surviving mini-robots. This approach allows you to get the best result in literally a matter of seconds.

Scientists note that without a virtual petri dish, testing hundreds of different cell configurations using real samples could take weeks or even months. After computer simulations, the researchers moved on to live cell experiments. Within a week, specialists managed to create 30-40 xenobots, but then it turned out that robots were able to replicate themselves under certain conditions. Next, the researchers again turned to AI in order to develop bots with higher reproduction efficiency. In the future, xenobots can find application in the medical field.^[1]

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