January 14, 2020

"Scientists use stem cells from frogs to build first living robots."

The Guardian reports.
One of the most successful creations has two stumpy legs that propel it along on its “chest”...

Roboticists tend to favour metal and plastic for their strength and durability, but Levin and his colleagues see benefits in making robots from biological tissues. When damaged, living robots can heal their wounds, and once their task is done they fall apart, just as natural organisms decay when they die...

28 comments:

Curious George said...

Pics or it didn't happen.

Rob said...

O brave new world,. That has such xenobots in 't!

Jamie said...

Yikes. That took less time than I thought.

John henry said...

I need to know more about these but they don't sound like "robots" to me.

John Henry

rehajm said...

Ew.

RNB said...

In Karel Capek's play, "R.U.R." (the first piece of fiction to use the word "robot," I believe) the robots were not metal, but made of artificial blood and flesh. So not a new idea.

Temujin said...

I keep reading articles like this and think that Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake" is not so much fiction, as a preview of upcoming seasons.

Kevin said...

Frobots.

JML said...

Also RNB: Frog DNA was used in Jurassic Park. "Life finds a way."

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Yes, "R.U.R." and a lot of Van Vogt used 'robot' that way, but generally "flesh robots" came to be called "androids" in SF. (Then of course Lucas confused the whole issue again..)

rhhardin said...

Mobile bug-zappers.

jaydub said...

"One of the most successful creations has two stumpy legs that propel it along on its “chest”..."

Great! Now they're mass producing Democrats.

traditionalguy said...

Fear the Frog.

Francisco D said...

Daleks?

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

I’m in my late fifties and I fear that I’m going to be about ten years too old to really take advantage of what stem cells are going to do for us. It’s going to be amazing.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

What could possibly go wrong?
/s

Fernandinande said...

Great! Now they're mass producing Democrats.

LOL^2. On the other hand they fall apart after about a week.

tcrosse said...

Great! Now they're mass producing Democrats.

It's cheaper to import them.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

great.

so now when you put the robot into a boiling pot,
... it wont jump out.

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gerry said...

Where is PETA on this?

Fernandinande said...

A guy walks into a bar with a frog stem-cell robot on his head and the bartender says "Hey, where'd you get that thing?" and the stem-cell robot says "I'm not sure, but it started out as a human stem cell on my stumpy leg."

Fernandinande said...

A guy walks into a bar with a frog on his head and the bartender says, "Hey, where'd you get that thing?" and the guy says "I bought it in Nogales."

Fernandinande said...

A stem-cell robot walks into a bar and orders a beer and the bartender says "Sorry, we don't serve robots" and the robot says "But some day soon you will."

Rosalyn C. said...

As much as things change they stay the same: mankind is always trying to get free labor. If all living things have some level of consciousness would creating a living robot be unethical? Yes.

mikee said...

"and once their task is done they fall apart"

...like tears in rain.

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JAORE said...

Dammit Madge, the robot gave me warts again.