Scientists from Harvard, Tufts, & the University of Vermont have developed the first "living machines" made through the manipulation of frog embroyic cells.
Reveal me to be a Replicant ERA if old.
Tiny living robots have been created using cells taken from frog embryos. Each so-called xenobot is less than a millimeter across, but one can propel itself through water using two stumpy limbs, while another has a kind of pouch that it could use to carry a small load.
The robots are constructed from heart cells, which spontaneously contract and relax like tiny pistons, and skin cells that provide more rigid structure. Once it is set loose, a robot's cells have enough energy to keep it wriggling and squirming for up to 10 days.
This first crop of xenobots are very basic. But future versions could be made with nervous systems and sensory cells—even rudimentary cognitive abilities—which would allow them to react to their environment.
Reveal me to be a Replicant ERA if old.