The biohybrid robot uses the mushroom’s rhythmic voltage spikes to control its locomotion. (Image credit: Cornell University)
It’s almost unbelievable.
Researchers from Cornell University have placed a mushroom behind the controls of a robot that moves using electrical signals. By utilizing the fungal mycelia’s (King Trumpet) electrical signals, the researchers discovered a new method of controlling biohybrid robots that could potentially react to their environment on a higher level than their synthetic counterparts.
The researchers detail how they came about developing the robot in a new paper entitled “Sensorimotor control of robots mediated by electrophysiological measurements of fungal mycelia,” which uses the mushroom’s sensitivity towards light to control its locomotion. “Living systems respond to touch, they respond to light, they respond to heat, they respond to even some unknowns, like signals,” stated Anand Mishra, a research associate at the Organic Robotics Lab at Cornell. “That’s why we think, OK, if you wanted to build future robots, how can they work in an unexpected environment? We can leverage these living systems, and any unknown input comes in, the robot will respond to that.”
Different inputs resulted in different outcomes for how the robot could move. For example, hitting the mushroom with UV light shows one type of robot pumping its spider-like legs and moving slowly across the surface of a table, while another, using chemical-based stimuli, propels a robot with wheels. The robots were designed using an electrical interface that blocks vibration and EM interference and accurately records and processes the mushroom’s electrophysiological activity in real-time, along with a controller (inspired by central pattern generators) that acts as a kind of neural circuit.
The system works by reading the mushroom’s raw electric signals, then processes it, identifying its rhythmic spikes when blasting it with UV light. That data is then processed and converted into a digital control signal that engages the robot’s actuators. The researchers found that they could influence and override the “natural impulses” produced by the fungi, demonstrating an ability to harness the robot’s sensory abilities to meet an end goal. Meaning they could alter the robot’s direction of locomotion based on light or chemical stimuli.
“This kind of project is not just about controlling a robot,” states Mishra. “It is also about creating a true connection with the living system. Because once you hear the signal, you also understand what’s going on. Maybe that signal is coming from some kind of stress. So, you’re seeing the physical response because those signals we can’t visualize, but the robot is making a visualization.”
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