Mixing Frog Cells and AI: The First Living Robots Were Created

Earlier this year, a group of researchers from Tufts and Vermont universities announced what is perhaps one of the greatest feats in biomedical engineering so far: the creation of microscopic organisms made out of living, responsive cells programmed by a supercomputer.

Not surprisingly, the process followed in the researchers’ labs sounds like taken out from a sci-fi novel. The team took frog stem cells and cultivated them in a nutrient-rich medium. Controlling the concentration of molecules that regulate cellular development, the cells were allowed to differentiate only until a certain point. Then, using robotic arms that are able to manipulate the cells, they were joined as indicated by a 3D model produced by a supercomputer.

Yet, how could a computer know how to shape a random arrangement of cells to make them work together? Scientists used Artificial Intelligence to develop computer algorithms: specific ways in which the computer processes given information to produce a determined product. In this case, the product was a functional model of arranged cells. Scientists provided specific information about the cells they grew in culture, and processing it with the database about cell interactions, the computer produced an ideal design of the robot. It turned out to be a curved strange figure, much like a flattened disk with curved corners.

When the grown cells were assembled according to the model, the result was minuscule moving organisms. The cells they are composed of even differentiated into simple tissues similar to those of the skin and cardiac (heart) muscle. These programmable living beings were called “Xenobots”, in reference to the frog species from which the cells were taken (Xenopus laevis).

These Xenobots can move (fold and unfold their corners) and even respond differently depending on the environment in which they are placed. Shaping them according to the task wanted to be done, these xenobots can be potentially used for drug delivery, disease diagnosis, and water purification purposes. Definitely, now knowing how to manipulate cell interactions as wanted, possibilities for further developments in nanotechnology are unlimited.

By Alejandra Durán 10thB