Amoeboid Robot Moves Autonomously Without Centralized Brain

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Amoeboid Robot Moves Autonomously Without Centralized Brain

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday March 11, 2012 @09:15PM from the let's-build-something-creepy dept.

An anonymous reader sends this excerpt from MIT's Technology Review: "A new blob-like robot described in the journal Advanced Robotics uses springs, feet, 'protoplasm' and a distributed nervous system to move in a manner inspired by the slime mold Physarum polycepharum. ... Researcher Takuya Umedachi of Hiroshima University has been perfecting his blob-bot for years, starting with early prototypes that used springs but lacked an air-filled bladder. ... Umedachi modeled his latest version on the 'true' slime mold, which has been shown to achieve a 'human-like' decision-making capacity through properties emerging from the interactions of its individual spores (abstract). Slime molds appear to have general computational abilities, and you've probably heard that they can solve mazes."

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There waiting in the "Test Chamber" by Grindalf · 2012-03-11 21:21 · Score: 0

Don't worry Gordon Freeman, she's been suitably "De-Beaked."

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The purpose of existence is to make money.
Nice job by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-11 21:22 · Score: 1

You just created a Shoggoth.
When interviewed.... by Man+On+Pink+Corner · 2012-03-11 21:37 · Score: 4, Funny

... the robot reportedly announced plans to seek the GOP Presidential nomination.
1. Re:When interviewed.... by zill · 2012-03-11 22:15 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  It's gonna be tough to snatch those robot votes away from Romney.
2. Re:When interviewed.... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-11 23:43 · Score: 0
  
  Robotic slime-mould overlords?
  That would be Hopenchange, rigth? Overbearing statists who know what's best for you?
3. Re:When interviewed.... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-12 00:34 · Score: 1
  
  Get back to me when the Republican statists are willing to keep their state out of my bedroom.
4. Re:When interviewed.... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-12 02:20 · Score: 1
  
  So.... how many Maverick Points does a vague, bitter-sounding AC post on Slashdot fetch these days, anyway?
5. Re:When interviewed.... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-12 02:29 · Score: 1
  
  >>keep their state out of my bedroom.
  Yet still insist we pay for your gal's birth control and/or abortions, right?
6. Re:When interviewed.... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-12 02:50 · Score: 0
  
  >>keep their state out of my bedroom. Yet still insist we pay for your gal's birth control and/or abortions, right?
  Not original AC, nut: If prescribed by a doctor for a medical issue, then I'd expect it to be covered like any other medication.
  To use in order not getting pregnant or _choosing_ to terminate, not necessarily so... though it might make financial sense for society to assist in not bringing unwanted/unsupported kids to term...
7. Re:When interviewed.... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-12 07:35 · Score: 0
  
  Hey,
  somebody just invented the Obama cabinet!
8. Re:When interviewed.... by Man+On+Pink+Corner · 2012-03-12 11:47 · Score: 1
  
  Yet still insist we pay for your gal's birth control and/or abortions, right?
  As long as you insist I pay for your wars of choice, yes. It seems like a fair trade, doesn't it?
blob-bot by MichaelSmith · 2012-03-11 21:44 · Score: 1

The ideal sexbot to replace my significant other.

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http://michaelsmith.id.au
1. Re:blob-bot by Ihmhi · 2012-03-11 21:54 · Score: 1
  
  Your significant other is an amorphous blob? Has she tried Jenny Craig?
  
  --
  Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
2. Re:blob-bot by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-12 03:19 · Score: 1
  
  He has a Feeder/Gainer fetish...
Oblig. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-11 21:54 · Score: 1

I, for one, welcome our new robotic slime-mould overlords
1. Re:Oblig. by macs4all · 2012-03-11 23:03 · Score: 1
  
  Damn! Beat me to it!
Combine with Pink Slime / Meat Slurry by retroworks · 2012-03-11 21:55 · Score: 2

The protein that crawls into your mouth while you sleep. Then you can find financing from USA fast food chains. ( http://tinyurl.com/2aj732 ) Otherwise, not very marketable.

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Gently reply
Real amoeba superior by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-11 21:58 · Score: 1

A real amoeba is still a vastly superior design in comparison to this robot.
Background on Slimy Computation by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-11 22:17 · Score: 1

Background on Slimy Computation: http://tikalon.com/blog/blog.php?article=2011/mould
Blob bots by bmo · 2012-03-11 22:18 · Score: 4, Funny

Researcher Takuya Umedachi of Hiroshima University has been perfecting his blob-bot for years,
>modeled after slime mold
We would do well to look to Nature.
Here's one of Nature's blob bots in action
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7yUYDMtsfU&feature=related
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BMO
Without central brain? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-11 22:25 · Score: 0

I can relate - this being the first morning on DST.
cool hardware, lackluster intelligence by steve.cri · 2012-03-11 23:12 · Score: 2

This type of hardware may be useful to implement e.g. limbs or fingers within a more complex system. For autonomus entities, the behavioural, force-feedback AI approach a la Braitenberg is a little dated. I think it does not allow to implement behavioural patterns complex enough to be of any practical use.
1. Re:cool hardware, lackluster intelligence by sempir · 2012-03-12 00:01 · Score: 0
  
  Don't be quite so critical, we have a parliament full of less useful semi-complex systems that wear suits, or dresses,and they get paid good money!
  
  --
  A closed mouth gathers no foot.
2. Re:cool hardware, lackluster intelligence by steve.cri · 2012-03-14 07:53 · Score: 0
  
  unsurprisingly, politically biased comments don't go well with the IT crowd, unless they fit the ultra-liberal template :(
they can solve mazes by mapkinase · 2012-03-11 23:38 · Score: 4, Interesting

... by enumeration.
Nature 2000 paper Figrue 1 legend:
Four hours after the setting of the agar blocks (AG), the dead ends of the plasmodium shrink and the pseudopodia explore all possible connections.
Figure 1a shows "Structure of the organism before finding the shortest path"
Text: "The plasmodium pseudopodia reaching dead ends in the labyrinth shrank " (engrish)
SO, in short, organism first fills the whole thing, then retracts from the areas with no food. Same way water will solve the problem (first part).
What they demonstrated is that signal from one end of organism about presence of food reached the other end of the organism. It's more about memory than computation.

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I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
1. Re:they can solve mazes by Tastecicles · 2012-03-12 02:39 · Score: 1
  
  can I invent a word here? It's more nutritropism than memory. Much like plants grow toward the sun (phototropism), or their roots grow down and their shoots grow up (geotropism), but following a food source.
  
  --
  Operation Guillotine is in effect.
2. Re:they can solve mazes by Fred+Ferrigno · 2012-03-12 04:15 · Score: 2
  
  Something has to drive the process of creating memories, which are internal physical states that have a correspondence with external reality. You could think of the direction of a plant's shoots as a kind of memory that encodes the direction of the Sun. The work is done by a simple, mindless process, but it pretty much has to be.
3. Re:they can solve mazes by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-12 06:19 · Score: 0
  
  Wow, that sounds like a Non-deterministic Turing Machine to me!
Comparisons by Lord+Grey · 2012-03-11 23:39 · Score: 4, Funny

Umedachi modeled his latest version on the 'true' slime mold, which has been shown to achieve a 'human-like' decision-making capacity through properties emerging from the interactions of its individual spores.

Are we absolutely certain that some slime molds achieves 'human-like' decision-making capacity rather than some humans achieving slime mold-like decision-making capacity?
Sorry. I probably shouldn't bring U.S. politics into the discussion so early in the threads.

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// Beyond Here Lie Dragons
1. Re:Comparisons by Opportunist · 2012-03-11 23:45 · Score: 1
  
  Growing to encompass everything, then withdrawing from areas that have been sucked dry and barren?
  That's not US politics, that's US economy.
  
  --
  We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
2. Re:Comparisons by bitflippant · 2012-03-11 23:53 · Score: 2
  
  I thought is was foreign policy. Oh wait, it would have to burn the place down too for that.
Re:hey! by flyneye · 2012-03-11 23:46 · Score: 3, Informative

No, it's not.
But these blobs have been undulating around malls for years, utilizing directional decision making to navigate the food courts, the bathrooms and regulate shopper traffic with their massive buttocks,bellys and arm fat dewlaps.
The real question is who stands to profit from controlling these Blob Bots or are they truly autonomous ?

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*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
Disturbing trends by dmmiller2k · 2012-03-12 01:27 · Score: 2

Might this be just a publicity stunt to promote, for example, a new "Rise of The Blob" movie?
If so, it's just another lame attempt to cash in on prior art, rather than coming up with something original.

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"No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up." -- Lily Tomlin
Who Knew Slime Molds Were That Smart? by Greyfox · 2012-03-12 02:30 · Score: 3, Interesting

Maybe I shouldn't have been eating them all those years in nethack....

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I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
1. Re:Who Knew Slime Molds Were That Smart? by Tastecicles · 2012-03-12 02:44 · Score: 1
  
  Just start worrying when the glowing green marshmallow runs up the stick.
  
  --
  Operation Guillotine is in effect.
Sounds like a boss I once had by vikingpower · 2012-03-12 03:00 · Score: 2

"Moves autonomously without centralized brain".

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Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace