The Xenobots were designed by the University of Vermont’s Deep Green supercomputer using an evolutionary algorithm, while scientists at Tufts University took the designs to create a programmable living organism. (Image credit: University of Vermont)
Scientists from the University of Vermont and Tufts University have created new programmable life forms using a supercomputer and living stem cells taken from frog embryos. Known as Xenobots (derived from the frog species Xenopus laevis), the millimeter-wide life forms can move towards a target, carry small payloads, and heal themselves after taking damage.
The new creatures were designed using UVM’s Deep Green supercomputer (using months of processing time) and an evolutionary algorithm to create thousands of biological candidate designs. The algorithm was supplied with basic rules on the biophysics of frog skin and cardiac cells, and what they could conceivably do, to achieve an assigned task, such as moving in a single direction. The computer continuously assembled simulated cells into different body forms and shapes, with the successful organism designs saved, while the others were discarded.
The successful silica-based designs were then handed over to scientists from Tufts University to bring them to life, which they accomplished by scraping stem cells from frog embryos, which were separated into single cells and left to incubate. Those incubated cells were then cut and joined under a microscope using tiny forceps and an electrode to match the supercomputer’s designs closely. The cells of those body forms (never seen in nature) began to work together, as the contractions of the heart muscles allowed them to move forward.
The reconfigurable life forms demonstrated the ability to move coherently, exploring their watery petri dish environment for days and weeks at a time, driven by their embryonic energy stores. Like turtles, however, when turned over, they can no longer move. Additional tests showed groups of Xenobots moving around in circles and pushing pellets into a central location, spontaneous and collectively.
The scientists created other programmable life forms with a hole in their center to reduce drag, while others were repurposed to transform the hole into a pouch to carry objects. “We can imagine many useful applications of these living robots that other machines can't do. Like searching out nasty compounds or radioactive contamination, gathering microplastic in the oceans, traveling in arteries to scrape out plaque,” stated Michael Levin, the director at the Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology at Tufts. The scientists hope to get a better understanding of the new technology and it’s capabilities as development continues forward.
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