- Strange living robots have recently been created from frog cells and fulfill the tasks for which they were designed.
- This scientific advance questions future advances. Will 2050 be made up of machines from the living?
- If the uses of such creations are multiple, many limits remain for the moment.
Will tomorrow's machines always be made of materials or will we soon see robots from organic and animal matter? The second solution, studied for a long time, is a little more anchored in reality since the publication on Monday of a study spotted by our colleagues from L'Obs around machines designed from frog cells. Researchers authoring the operation, from the universities of Massachusetts and Vermont, even get excited in a press release of a "new form of life." They are not a traditional robot or a known species of animal. It's a new category of artifact: a living, programmable organism ”
Measuring a few millimeters, these “living” organisms only fulfill basic tasks (pushing objects or regenerating themselves, for example) for which they have been programmed thanks to the precise assembly of said cells. They are even "able to move coherently and explore their aquatic environment for days or weeks," the statement said.
The future will be soft
The field of possibilities that has just opened up is immense. In a press release, the research team cites in particular: "Many applications for these living robots: detect dangerous or radioactive materials, recover microplastics present in the oceans or even travel inside the human body to clean the arteries . "
Olivier Goury, researcher in deformable robotics at Inria (National Research Institute for Digital Science and Technology), is currently working on “soft” robots, in particular in silicone. Animal or "soft" matter, the primary advantage remains the same: "Being able to easily sneak into the human body without risking damaging it", he quotes.
"Faced with nature, we cannot compete"
In short, forget the hard, the future is malleable. And if Olivier Goury sees animal matter above all as an alternative to silicone in these practical areas, he recognizes the possible superiority of the organic: “Matter can be rebuilt and be much more autonomous. If one of our silicone robots is broken, it is finished. The organic can regenerate. Anyway, facing nature, you can't compete, it's the best "material". "
It is no coincidence that even the soft robots of Inria are inspired by animals or plants: “Often, what is found in nature is optimal, the fruit of millions of years of evolution. We're just trying to copy. He cites in particular sprawling robots like octopuses or certain machines that can detach parts of themselves like earthworms do.
Ethics and nuances
As you can see, the organic is fantastic. But not sure that our future will be filled with living robots. After the praises, Olivier Goury turns to nuances. "For now, the applications are still extremely basic," he admits. Robots from frogs can only move, go around in circles or push tiny objects. Far from the current capabilities of silicone robots, and if the tasks may become more complex in the future, all this remains theoretical for the moment.
Not to mention the obvious ethical questions raised by the creation of mechanical animals. In the statement, the researchers almost boast: "It's 100% of the frog's DNA, but they are not frogs. One wonders then what else are these cells capable of building? "Olivier Goury is more cautious:" We do not know what it can give or the questions that it raises. Before, we copied nature. Now we reshape it. It's quite a difference. "
Planet
GMOs: Are genetically modified animals a risk to nature?
science
China: Monkeys receive gene from human brain, controversy swells
- Planet
- World
- Animals
- Robot
- scientific