Slime Robots
“Plasmodium” by Carolina Biological Supply Company is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
What comes to mind when you think of robots? The conventional robot is something that most of us can name: a solid machine that rolls or walks to move around. Now imagine a robot that can move fluidly and slip into places that normal robots are unable to. This robot would be capable of withstanding a different set of conditions from its solid counterpart, flowing and cleaning through pipes, airways, or even the human body.
Physarum polycephalum is what’s called a slime mold. This particular species is rather unappealing to the eye, but it is a fascinating organism. Slime molds are classified as Protista. The entire creature is a single cell containing hundreds of nuclei. For one phase of their growth, they exist as slugs, each containing a single nucleus. The slugs move together to create a single mass that acts as one to reproduce.
Having a robot that can move and act like a slime mold would be very beneficial. It would move and think through chemical reactions. This creates a new category of machines that could revolutionize anything from plumbing to space exploration. Some scientists have already started to engineer robots like this.
Related Stories:
https://herbarium.usu.edu/fun-with-fungi/slime-molds
https://www.quantamagazine.org/slime-molds-remember-but-do-they-learn-20180709/
