In a groundbreaking development, engineers have constructed a robot powered by a living fungus. The biohybrid machine manipulates the electrical signals from an edible mushroom known as a king trumpet, enabling it to move and sense its surrounding environment. This development is the handy work of an interdisciplinary team from Cornell University, US and Florence University, Italy. Their invention could lead to a revolutionary phase in the field of living robotics.
This mechanical device’s unique application of organic systems could pave the way towards a future where robots are capable of working in unpredictable situations, responding to unknown inputs. The marriage of robotic machinery and mycelium (the vegetative part of a fungus) has seen the birth of a robot that can sense and react to its surroundings. These characteristics, when coupled with mobility, could potentially be harnessed for numerous applications.
The behaviour of the robot changes based on different inputs. For instance, exposure to ultraviolet light displayed different movement outcomes for the biohybrid. One video showed a king trumpet commanding robot that moved sluggishly over a surface by manoeuvring its robotic limbs, while another utilised a wheel-based system for mobility.
Anand Mishra, a research associate part of the Organic Robotics Lab at Cornell, emphasised the potential in marrying living systems with robotic technology. According to him, such biohybrid robots could efficiently work in adverse, unexpected environments, reacting to any unknown factor.
Petitioning the fungus’s ability to sense chemical and biological signals with this mobility could have many practical applications, according to the scientists. Rob Shepherd, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell, highlighted the implications of adding mycelium into the robot’s electronics.
An example he presented was that future robots with such abilities could be used in agriculture, determining soil chemistry, understanding when additional fertiliser is needed, and preventing harmful effects of excessive fertilisation, like damaging algal blooms.
The research, titled ‘Sensorimotor control of robots mediated by electrophysiological measurements of fungal mycelia’, was published in a renowned scholarly journal, Science Robotics.
The breakthrough isn’t the first time a biohybrid robot has been created; previous instances involve the utilization of an artificial worm brain in a Lego robot, displaying the creature’s movements and intentions. Further, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology successfully created a machine integrated with living muscle tissue for environmental sensing and adjustment.
However, the use of mushrooms signifies a notable step forward in the field of biohybrid robotics, as fungi have the potent ability to grow and endure harsh conditions. It could be the starting point for a new era where biohybrid robots contribute significantly to diverse fields.
