First Biological Robots to Be Made of Mould

Scientists have hypothesized for a long time that biological robots will soon become real, but now experts at the University of the West of England have completed the necessary preparations for the first-of-its-kind prototype to be built. It will mostly be made out of a microorganism called plasmodium, which has revealed in fast investigations that it can perform basic calculations, as part of a bacterial computer. The device will be constructed with funds secured from a £228,000 grant from the Leverhulme Trust, ScienceDaily reports.

When the common slime mould known as Physarum polycephalum, which can be found in damp places, such as forests and gardens, enters its vegetative state, it becomes known as plasmodium. The organism apparently offers the best basis for a new type of amorphous, non-silicon, biological robot, soon to be created in the United Kingdom. The goal of the new experiments is to create a robot that requires absolutely no silicon-based components, such as transistors and semiconductors. Devices used to fill in their functions will be made entirely out of biological materials.

“Most people’s idea of a computer is a piece of hardware with software designed to carry out specific tasks. This mould, or plasmodium, is a naturally occurring substance with its own embedded intelligence. It propagates and searches for sources of nutrients and when it finds such sources it branches out in a series of veins of protoplasm. The plasmodium is capable of solving complex computational tasks, such as the shortest path between points and other logical calculations,” the project leader, Professor Andy Adamatzky, explains the organism's abilities.

“Through previous experiments we have already demonstrated the ability of this mould to transport objects. By feeding it oat flakes, it grows tubes which oscillate and make it move in a certain direction carrying objects with it. We can also use light or chemical stimuli to make it grow in a certain direction,” the scientist adds. “This new plasmodium robot, called plasmobot, will sense objects, span them in the shortest and best way possible, and transport tiny objects along pre-programmed directions,” he says.

According to Adamatzky, the new machine will have roughly the same computational power as an advance supercomputer, and it will also be endowed with a number of inputs and outputs, for maximum control. The instrument will also feature a series of sensors, which will aid it in orienting itself in its designated environment, the scientist reveals. “It will be a fully controllable and programmable amorphous intelligent robot with an embedded massively parallel computer,” he concludes.