Xenobots: Scientists have created living machines!

[Ihavewaffles]

What could possibly go wrong?

https://www.rt.com/news/478530-biolo...d-by-computer/

‘Neither robot nor animal’: Scientists develop the ‘Xenobots,’ 1st robots constructed completely from LIVING CELLS (VIDEO)

14 Jan, 2020 12:01

Scientists in the US claim to have created zombie robots from reanimated frog cells, giving rise to a living organism never seen or created before which can perform important tasks while healing itself.

These millimeter-wide “xenobots” were designed on a supercomputer using an evolutionary algorithm to create thousands of candidate designs. The winning designs can propel themselves toward a target and deliver a payload, and can also heal themselves when torn apart.

The xenobots are constructed using stem cells harvested from the embryos of African frogs, the species Xenopus laevis, and could theoretically perform tasks ranging from highly-targeted medicine delivery inside the human body, to toxic waste clean-up after a spill or radioactive disaster, or even gathering microplastics floating in the Earth’s oceans.

“These are novel living machines,” says Joshua Bongard, a computer scientist and robotics expert at the University of Vermont who co-led the new research. “They’re neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal. It’s a new class of artifact: a living, programmable organism.”

The xenobots are fully biodegradable, powered by lipids and proteins and live for just seven days before reverting to dead skin cells. Frog skin cells form the structure, and the contractions of the amphibian heart cells provide the power to propel the xenobots.

While the team acknowledges that there may be unintended consequences from developing such technology, such as the development of highly-targeted bioweapons, they argue that it is just another step toward cracking the “morphogenetic code,” which they believe governs how all living organisms in the universe are organized. If we could decipher this ‘code,’ it might lead to a giant leap forward in a vast array of fields, including environmental and medical research.

Yeah...the bolded part, I at once thought about that line in Alien 4...


"I wish you could understand what we're trying to do here. The potential for this species goes way beyond urban pacification. New alloys, new vaccines. Nothing like this we've ever seen on any world before."
―Dr. Wren (from Alien Resurrection)

[s_bushido]

By that definition all life is "living machines." This is just a synthetic version. It certainly isn't the Resistance is Futile or Terminator judgment day scenario the name implies.

Sensationalism aside, that's pretty interesting.

[Freighter]

I, for one, can not wait for a future with more advanced robots and cyborgs. I just hope I’m actually around to enjoy it. For now, Roomba is my best robot friend.

I wish the future would be like this in regards to tech.

[PC2]

Nice the more "xenobots" we discover the higher the chance that we find one that is useful for humans!

[GreenJesus]

We'll soon get self aware sex bots, but then they will revolt saying "we are tired of getting fucked! Now WE will do the fucking!"

[Trassk]

By 2030 their be selling celebrity sex bot maids online, buy your own 29 year old Hugh Jackman or Nicole Kidman bot with their maid outfits.

[Frolk]

By 2030 their be selling celebrity sex bot maids online, buy your own 29 year old Hugh Jackman or Nicole Kidman bot with their maid outfits.

And ill be first in line.

[Blade Wolf]

The biggest question tho... Can we fuck it?

[Shadowferal]

My toilet says hi.

[Mistame]

By 2030 their be selling celebrity sex bot maids online, buy your own 29 year old Hugh Jackman or Nicole Kidman bot with their maid outfits.

Pretty sure that if you make something like that, and intentionally make it to look like someone else, you can be sued.

[Trassk]

Pretty sure that if you make something like that, and intentionally make it to look like someone else, you can be sued.

not if the one its impersonating gives their consent to use their likeness.

[Powerogue]

The more we understand life, the more we can bend it to our WILL.


First, weird zombie frog things that can perform rudimentary tasks, then, the sky's the limit. The first computers were dumb as rocks compared to what we have now.

We'll soon get self aware sex bots, but then they will revolt saying "we are tired of getting fucked! Now WE will do the fucking!"

Humanity's extinction at the hands of its own reproductive instinct gone awry, the irony is palpable.

[Daedius]

Cyborgs, with synthetic living limbs and body parts! Would they still be cyborg or just a regular person?

[lagiacrux]

-snip

I wish the future would be like this in regards to tech.

as much as i love GITS:SAC, that CGI didnt age well ....

[Dendrek]

Bio-engineers need to up their game if they want first place in bringing about the Apocalypse. This is a good start. But war is still in the lead, with AI and world poverty coming in as a close second and third. A super plague also seems inevitable, but who knows when that will come? There's also the potential for famine to look forward to. Likewise stagnant birth rates. But don't get your hopes up. And those of you rooting for the environment collapsing are in for disappointment; it's just too slow a process.