Researchers create “living” robots capable of duplicating themselves from stem cells from frog embryos

Last year, a group of researchers working at the University of Vermont in the United States announced the creation of the first “living machines” capable of self-assembly from stem cells from frog embryos. It was already the second generation of Xenobot.

Researchers have just unveiled the third generation of Xenobots. They are now able to self-replicate. These computer-designed, self-assembled organisms can now move around to find single cells and assemble hundreds to create new Xenobots, also capable of duplicating themselves. “With the right design, they replicate spontaneously,” says Joshua Bongard, computer scientist and robotics expert at the University of Vermont.

A new mode of replication

The researchers explain that cells “released” from becoming tadpoles are able to use a sort of collective intelligence to do something completely different. Michael Levin, professor of biology and director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University in Massachusetts is amazed at this result: “We have the complete, unchanged frog genome, but it has provided no clue that these cells can work. together on this new task ”. The researchers insist that this mode of replication is something new from a biological point of view.

Scientists investigated which form of Xenobot was the most suitable and efficient in the process of replication. To achieve this, they asked the UVM supercomputer to figure out how to adjust the shape of the original parents. The computer then came up with various shapes, including one that looked like Pac-Man. “It’s not very intuitive. It sounds very simple, but it’s not something a human engineer could come up with. Why a small mouth? Why not five? We sent the results to Doug and he built these Xenobot parents in the form of Pac-Man. Then these parents built children, who built grandchildren, who built great-grandchildren, who built great-great-grandchildren ”.

Scientists now want to understand these mechanisms: “We are working to understand this replication. The world and technologies are changing rapidly. It is important that society as a whole studies and understands how this works. “