Blackiston Douglas, Lederer Emma, Kriegman Sam, Garnier Simon, Bongard Joshua, Levin Michael
Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA.
Department of Computer Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.
Sci Robot. 2021 Mar 31;6(52). doi: 10.1126/scirobotics.abf1571.
Robot swarms have, to date, been constructed from artificial materials. Motile biological constructs have been created from muscle cells grown on precisely shaped scaffolds. However, the exploitation of emergent self-organization and functional plasticity into a self-directed living machine has remained a major challenge. We report here a method for generation of in vitro biological robots from frog () cells. These xenobots exhibit coordinated locomotion via cilia present on their surface. These cilia arise through normal tissue patterning and do not require complicated construction methods or genomic editing, making production amenable to high-throughput projects. The biological robots arise by cellular self-organization and do not require scaffolds or microprinting; the amphibian cells are highly amenable to surgical, genetic, chemical, and optical stimulation during the self-assembly process. We show that the xenobots can navigate aqueous environments in diverse ways, heal after damage, and show emergent group behaviors. We constructed a computational model to predict useful collective behaviors that can be elicited from a xenobot swarm. In addition, we provide proof of principle for a writable molecular memory using a photoconvertible protein that can record exposure to a specific wavelength of light. Together, these results introduce a platform that can be used to study many aspects of self-assembly, swarm behavior, and synthetic bioengineering, as well as provide versatile, soft-body living machines for numerous practical applications in biomedicine and the environment.
迄今为止，机器人群体是由人造材料构建而成的。利用在精确塑形的支架上生长的肌肉细胞制造出了可移动的生物结构体。然而，将涌现的自组织和功能可塑性应用于自我导向的活体机器仍然是一项重大挑战。我们在此报告一种从青蛙（）细胞生成体外生物机器人的方法。这些异种机器人通过其表面存在的纤毛展现出协调的运动。这些纤毛通过正常的组织模式形成，不需要复杂的构建方法或基因组编辑，使得生产适用于高通量项目。生物机器人通过细胞自组织产生，不需要支架或微打印；在自组装过程中，两栖类细胞对手术、基因、化学和光刺激具有高度适应性。我们表明，异种机器人能够以多种方式在水环境中导航，受损后能够自愈，并展现出涌现的群体行为。我们构建了一个计算模型来预测从异种机器人群体中可以引发的有用集体行为。此外，我们提供了使用可光转换蛋白的可写入分子记忆的原理证明，该蛋白可以记录对特定波长光的暴露。总之，这些结果引入了一个平台，可用于研究自组装、群体行为和合成生物工程的许多方面，并为生物医学和环境中的众多实际应用提供多功能的软体活体机器。
