Fungus Figures Out How to Steer Biohybrid Robots

Autonomous vehicles are often considered safer than human drivers, but would you feel comfortable with a mushroom in control? A new type of “biohybrid” robot is designed to move based on signals from a fungus’s nervous system.

A few decades of human engineering are no match for billions of years of evolution, so instead of creating new solutions from scratch, it’s often more effective to integrate natural elements into synthetic systems. This approach has led to robots with highly sensitive locust ears, robot fish powered by beating human heart cells, and robots that crawl using sea slug muscles. In the long run, this strategy could result in more responsive robots.

However, researchers at Cornell University have developed a new biohybrid robot that utilizes fungi, extending beyond the usual animal-based components. Fungi sense and communicate through electrical signals transmitted via their mycelium, which is their root-like structure. The team grew the mycelium directly into the robot’s electronics, allowing the natural signals to control the machine.

Innovative Interface Translates Fungal Signals for Robot Control

They created an electrical interface that precisely records the mycelium’s electrophysiological activity, processes it, and converts it into a digital signal that the robot can interpret. This signal is sent to the actuators, enabling the robot to move in response to the fungus, which emits signals based on environmental changes, such as variations in light.

The team developed two versions of these biohybrid robots. One is a fairly simple wheeled model, while the other is shaped like a spider with soft legs. In both designs, a Petri dish containing fungus is placed on top, allowing the fungus to react to light and other stimuli and send signals to activate the wheels or legs.

The robots were tested in three experiments. In the first, the robots moved based on natural, continuous signal spikes from the mycelia. For the second experiment, the researchers exposed the fungus to ultraviolet light, causing it to alter the robots’ movement patterns. In the final experiment, the team showed they could completely override the fungus signals to manually control the robots.

Expanding Sensory Capabilities for Future Biohybrid Robots

Although only light was used as a direct stimulus in these tests, the team suggests that future versions could include multiple inputs, such as chemical signatures. The idea is that living systems are inherently adept at responding to various inputs like light, heat, and pressure, whereas synthetic systems would require specialized sensors for each type of input.

“This study is just the beginning of many that will use fungi to provide environmental sensing and control signals to robots, enhancing their autonomy,” said Rob Shepherd, the study’s senior author. “Future robots could potentially detect soil chemistry in row crops and determine when additional fertilizer is needed, possibly reducing agricultural impacts such as harmful algal blooms.”

The research was published in Science Robotics. The spider-shaped robot in action can be seen in the video below.

Read the original article on: New Atlas

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