University of the West of England scientists have created a biological robot using mold. The researchers, led by professor Andy Adamatzky, developed an amorphous non-silicon biological robot, called plasmobot, using plasmodium, the vegetative stage of the slime mold Physarum polycephalum. The project aims to design the first-ever fully biological amorphous massively-parallel robot. Adamatzky says previous research has already proven that the mold can have computational abilities. “This mold, or plasmodium, is a naturally occurring substance with its own embedded intelligence,” he says. “The plasmodium is capable of solving complex computational tasks, such as the shortest path between points and other logical calculations.” Adamatzky says the plasmobot can sense objects, span them in the shortest and best way possible, and transport tiny objects using pre-programmed directions. Plasmobots can have parallel inputs and outputs, a network of sensors, and potentially the number-processing capabilities of a supercomputer. The mold-based robot will be controlled by spatial gradients of light, electromagnetic fields, and the characteristics of its substrate material. “It will be a fully controllable and programmable amorphous intelligent robot with an embedded massively parallel computer,” Adamatzky says. He says that eventually it might “be possible for thousands of tiny computers made of plasmodia to live on our skin and carry out routine tasks freeing up our brain for other things.”
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Tags: Robot
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