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    Home > Biochemistry News > Biotechnology News > The first live robot was born, made by frog cells.

    The first live robot was born, made by frog cells.

    • Last Update: 2020-08-05
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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    This is a programmable robot made up of biological cells that can move autonomously.
    it is not a new species, unlike existing organs or organisms, but a living organism.
    scientists have assembled african clawskin and cardiomyocytes into new life forms, and these millimeter-scale heterogenous robots can move in direct directions and merge them together when they encounter similar species.
    they can also be customized into a variety of shapes, such as quadrobots, such as robots with "pockets".
    what is coming, robots with "pockets" can deliver drugs in the human body.
    these robots can also be used to look for dangerous compounds or radioactive contaminants, to move scratches through human arteries and remove these "time bombs" that cause cardiovascular disease.
    a collaboration with scientists from the University of Vermont, Tufts University and Harvard University in the United States, entitled "The Study of Scalability Pipelines for the Design of Reconfigurable Organisms", published january 14, 2020 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
    communications writer Josh Bongard, a professor in computer science at the University of Vermont.
    Bongard told DeepTech that the main purpose of the study was to prove the concept of computer-designed organisms.
    living robots such as evolutionary algorithms-based cell robots are designed by supercomputers at the University of Vermont, where biologists at Tufts University assemble and test African claw cells.
    Bongard says the robot is based on an evolutionary algorithm, which is the process of computer simulation.
    specifically, the computer first used 500 to 1,000 virtual cells to create a randomset of organisms, each with a random arrangement of skin cells and heart muscle cells.
    there is no doubt that most of these design prototypes remain silent, but there will always be exceptions.
    because myocardial cells spontaneously contract and stretch, this is the engine of cell movement, and if these heart muscle cells contract well and diastolic behavior is well coordinated, a very small number of chicks will produce a weak ability to move.
    then researchers will copy these portable motor-carrying prototypes further, with the next generation likely to be able to move faster.
    the robot version that can move quickly after so many generations are replicated over and over again.
    researchers say the evolutionary algorithm has created multigenerational, thousands of candidate designs for new life forms, eventually sifting out the robot forms that can be moved in directed motion.
    Bongard's computer design was implemented in practice by biologists at Tufts University.
    in practice, the researchers used microscopy tools to scrape early cells from African claw embryos, separate them into individual cells, and then incubate.
    even without human manipulation, these skin cells and heart cells themselves quickly cluster and condense into amorphous clumps.
    the researchers used tiny tweezers and electrodes to manually shape the agglomeration of tissue, working under a microscope to connect them to a computer-designed approximate pattern.
    miracle has happened.
    the cells began to work together after forming a new form.
    the heart muscle cells that were originally randomly shrunk showed the coordination of the self-organizing pattern and realized the movement forward.
    the robot, named "xenobots", the African claw-cell robot, is an aquatic frog in South Africa and an important model creature for the development of biology.
    researchers concluded that the movement came from the design of a computer.
    Bongard explained to DeepTech in an email that after flipping the cell robot, it's like a tortoise flipping over and moving around.
    " suggests that forward movement is the result of artificial design, not by accident.
    " the study also promises to unlock the mysteries of cell-to-cell communication. the relationship between
    the morphology and function of organisms has always been a major scientific problem, in which cell communication is very key.
    know that cell communication is not limited to neurons, but between other cells.
    these communications are achieved through bioelectricity, biochemistry, and biomechanics.
    this study is helpful in understanding life procedures.
    , study participant Professor Michael Levin, director of the Center for Regeneration and Developmental Biology at Tufts University, believes that if humans have a good understanding of controlling the growth and shape of life, the problems of birth defects, cancer and aging are likely to be solved.
    Levin Labs studies the relationship between cell communication and tissue morphology, as well as the molecular mechanisms of cell communication during embryonic development, through experiments and modeling.
    the biodegradable drugs that deliver African claw cells themselves, but the organisms they make up exhibit biolive behavior.
    this programmable cell robot not only maintains form, but also repairs itself in the event of damage.
    -cell robots can survive in a water-based environment for up to 10 days and can move without additional nutrients.
    some robots can move in straight lines, and some can circle.
    tests have shown that some cellular robots can spontaneously sink in the middle to form a central hole, so particles can be gathered in the center.
    researchers say this means the robot has the potential to deliver drugs.
    when robots stop working (i.e. die), they usually degrade harmlessly.
    compared to other materials such as metals and plastics, which is also a huge advantage for biocellular robots to deliver drugs in humans. asked
    whether the drug delivery would trigger an immune response, Bongard told DeepTech that the technology could be used in drug delivery if it can be used to make robots from patients' own cells.
    just that the application prospects have not been validated.
    their research is aimed primarily at proving the concept of computer-designed organisms, not for the application of drug delivery.
    next step, they hope to be able to create robots with mammalian cells.
    then the problem will follow, and if biocellular robots produce nervous systems and sensory systems, ethical issues will be involved.
    , Sam Kriegman, the paper's first author and a doctoral student in the computer science department at the University of Vermont, said the issue needed to be discussed openly and a solution needed to be finally found, the Guardian reported.
    but he said that if you look at the images of these robots, they don't feel they pose a threat to humans.
    ethicists argue that these biocellular robots can only go online to ethical issues when they produce nerve tissue that can sense pain.
    Source: DeepTech Deep Tech.
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