Plasmobot To Be Made Of Slime Mold
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Wednesday, 2 of September , 2009 at 1:42 am
This article is pretty much just going to be one giant quote, because what these researchers claim they can get slime mold to do is just so unbelievably incredible that any hyperbole I might be able to come up with would fall completely, utterly flat. Just read:
“The plasmodium is capable of solving complex computational tasks, such as the shortest path between points and other logical calculations. 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.”
“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. The robots will have parallel inputs and outputs, a network of sensors and the number crunching power of super computers. The plasmobot will be controlled by spatial gradients of light, electro-magnetic fields and the characteristics of the substrate on which it is placed. It will be a fully controllable and programmable amorphous intelligent robot with an embedded massively parallel computer.”
“We are at the very early stages of our understanding of how the potential of the plasmodium can be applied, but in years to come we may be able to use the ability of the mould for example to deliver a small quantity of a chemical substance to a target, using light to help to propel it, or the movement could be used to help assemble micro-components of machines. In the very distant future we may be able to harness the power of plasmodia within the human body, for example to enable drugs to be delivered to certain parts of the human body. It might also be possible for thousands of tiny computers made of plasmodia to live on our skin and carry out routine tasks freeing up our brain for other things. Many scientists see this as a potential development of amorphous computing, but it is purely theoretical at the moment.”
Purely theoretical, but still… Wow. I have obviously not been giving mold enough credit.
[ UWE Press Release ] VIA [ Science Daily ]
Comments (2)
Category: Artificial Intelligence,Biorobotics,Research
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Comment by Melissa
Made Wednesday, 2 of September , 2009 at 9:53 pm
Pssst…slime molds aren’t molds. They’re actually much cooler.
Comment by quantum_flux
Made Thursday, 11 of November , 2010 at 12:23 am
Wow, AI here we come!
