Robotic Mold

Canis Lupus writes to mention that researchers from the University of West England are designing the world's first biological robot, constructed from mold. The robot, "Plasmobot," will be created using vegetative slime mold called plasmodium (Physarum polycephalum) that is commonly found in forests, gardens, and most damp places in the UK. "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."

Comments

Umm...

[coolsteve]

From the article:

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.

Does this worry anyone else?

Re:Umm...

[clone53421]

Yeah. Sounds about as interesting as using sunflower heads to keep solar cells pointed at the sun. Sure, you can probably do it, but does it accomplish anything practically?

I.e., tell me when they've done something interesting. In the meantime, they're just watching mold do what mold normally does.

Re:Good marketing team

[blackraven14250]

So, how is this different from putting some mold on or near a bunch of moldfood and letting it work its magic?

Re:Not Really a Robot

[blackraven14250]

I have better projects involving certain plants in mind.