Canis Lupus writes to mention that researchers from the University of West England are designing the world's first biological robot, constructed from mold. The robot, "Plasmobot," will be created using vegetative slime mold called plasmodium (Physarum polycephalum) that is commonly found in forests, gardens, and most damp places in the UK. "This new plasmodium robot, called plasmobot, will sense objects, span them in the shortest and best way possible, and transport tiny objects along pre-programmed directions. The robots will have parallel inputs and outputs, a network of sensors and the number crunching power of super computers. The plasmobot will be controlled by spatial gradients of light, electro-magnetic fields and the characteristics of the substrate on which it is placed. It will be a fully controllable and programmable amorphous intelligent robot with an embedded massively parallel computer."
"...number crunching power of super computers... It will be a fully controllable and programmable amorphous intelligent robot with an embedded massively parallel computer."
I don't think that means what you think it means...
It propagates and searches for sources of nutrients and when it finds such sources it branches out in a series of veins of protoplasm. The plasmodium is capable of solving complex computational tasks, such as the shortest path between points and other logical calculations
I don't know about you, but we've tried our own implementation of this phenomenon in our office fridge, and haven't gotten any good computational output. Sure, the General Tso's Chicken came up with a fairly solid quicksort implementation, but that Greenish Liquid That May or May Not Have Been a Salad At One Time still hasn't figured out basic pointer arithmetic, much less decent memory management.
It's not really much different from that, which is exactly why it is interesting! Natural phenomena solve some of the hardest problems in computation, just by doing what they normally do.
The trick is controlling that process to get it to solve things we are interested in.
This mould, or plasmodium, is a naturally occurring substance with its own embedded intelligence. It propagates and searches for sources of nutrients and when it finds such sources it branches out in a series of veins of protoplasm.
Yeah. Sounds about as interesting as using sunflower heads to keep solar cells pointed at the sun. Sure, you can probably do it, but does it accomplish anything practically?
I.e., tell me when they've done something interesting. In the meantime, they're just watching mold do what mold normally does.
Nope, normal molds are fungi. Slime molds aren't molds at all. They used to be considered in the now-defunct Protist kingdom, but that's not a monophyletic grouping, so it's been split up into several different kingdoms (although the exact classification is still the subject of some debate).
The most popular current taxonomy puts slime molds into several kingdoms, with plasmodial slime molds (the case at hand) in the kingdom Amoebozoa alongside amoebas (among others)
I noticed a tiny mistake in TFS. Since it's British, they should have spelled it "mould", becauuse American mold is so different. British mold doesn't even have color -- it has colours.
And what exactly do they intend to use it for? Does this have any practical applications where it would be superior to an inorganic robot that isn't at risk of being eaten by the first moderately complex organism that thinks mold looks tasty?
You're sitting in a bar. The vid screen is barely audible over the sounds of the loud patrons hammering back their brews and celebrating the end of the day and beginning of the night. With some effort, you tune your cybernetic hearing enhancement to hear the newscaster.
"Hackers used banned mould robots to conquer cheese factories in Wisconsin and France. News at Eleven.
Looking down, the plate of nachos you ordered suddenly doesn't look so appealing. It looks less appealing as it leaps up from the
Man, if there's ever a situation where I'd be okay with the GM assuming I'm caught off guard, it's when my own plate of nachos leaps up and attacks my face. The only way I could be more surprised would be if the Long Island Ice Tea I bought tried to sober me up.
Nice and simple answer to that FTA: "Researchers have received a Leverhulme Trust grant worth £228,000 to develop
the amorphous non-silicon biological robot".
At the risk of getting modded "redundant", this really doesn't sound like much of a "discovery",
much less a "robot". At best, IF they came up with a novel way to arrange food around it
to solve NP-complete problems, you could call it a type of massively parallel processor. Possibly,
with a rea
The article explains what's meant by saying that the "robot" will compute: "Most people's idea of a computer is a piece of hardware with software designed to carry out specific tasks. This mould, or plasmodium, is a naturally occurring substance with its own embedded intelligence. It propagates and searches for sources of nutrients and when it finds such sources it branches out in a series of veins of protoplasm. The plasmodium is capable of solving complex computational tasks, such as the shortest path between points and other logical calculations. Through previous experiments we have already demonstrated the ability of this mould to transport objects. By feeding it oat flakes, it grows tubes which oscillate and make it move in a certain direction carrying objects with it. We can also use light or chemical stimuli to make it grow in a certain direction."
That's like saying that the bamboo plant on my desk is a robot. It, too, transports substances in a direction determined by light input, and computes the optimal direction for approaching a light source. I could even claim that I'm adding "logic gates" to it by covering or pruning certain leaves.
Says the article, the mold robot has "the number crunching power of super computers" because it carries out computing tasks. That claim is also pretty silly. The A* algorithm can find the shortest distance between paths, and it doesn't require anything that could be called a supercomputer today.
So, this thing is a "robot" in the sense that pointing at random objects and calling yourself a master of "found art" is art.
Exactly. In fact, plasmodium does not compute optimal distances, it has no senses to detect objects at a distance. It detects chemical concentration gradients and moves to or from higher concentrations of chemicals it likes or dislikes. It does not compute. In fact, if you've ever seen one move, it wriggles around a lot. It has to, in order to detect its immediate environment.
>"and programmable amorphous intelligent robot with an embedded massively parallel computer."
Now see, it's that bit, the bit about it being fully controllable that makes me nervous. Why did they feel the need to put that bit in. Slimy mold; intelligent, massively parallel processing robot... fully controllable, yes but by whom and for how long.
Adamatzky I'm already familiar with, citing his Chemical Computer [wikipedia.org] in a senior paper to finish my CS degree. This is no more crazy than using electrostatic foam to compute. [indiana.edu]
I went looking for negative stuff, knowing plasmodiums were behind malaria. Couldn't find any for this stuff, but I did find some juicy bits from biomedical science regarding its computational ability, or rather its internal processes that can be used as such. Not many will be able to get the referenced material, but just the abstracts are tasty.
The plasmodium behind malaria is not the same kind of plasmodium. IIRC, malaria is caused by a sporozoan, which is completely different from a slime mould. In fact, plasmodium is not even a kind of slime mould. In reference to slime moulds, plasmodium is just the macroscopic form of any slime mould.
Yeah, the reason slime molds are referred to as plasmodium is because the slime mold colony lacks defined cell walls or membranes between what would normally be considered individual cells. The mold can essentially be thought of as a single cell with many nuclei, since cytoplasm is continous throughout the entire colony. As the parent notes, this type of structure (a lifecycle stage, really) has nothing to do with the protozoa which cause malaria, which just happen to be of genus Plasmodium.
In reference to slime moulds, plasmodium is just the macroscopic form of any slime mould.
Not _any_ slime mold. Plasmodial slime molds are one small grouping of slime molds.
Dictyostelids, for instance, are unicellular slime molds. Plasmodiums have many (often millions) nuclei in one cell membrane. Dictyostelids maintain cellular structure--their macroscopic form is not a plasmodium, though they do form a "pseudoplasmodium" that kind of looks like a plasmodium.
Is it appropriate to lichen this bizarre construction to a robot? And I have to wonder whether it would be constructed from custom built components, or would they would have to come from a mold.
This sounds like the makings of a great Sci-Fi flick. Oh wait, I think it was recently just done [hulu.com],... Or maybe that was just a SyFy flick, so it really doesn't count,...
Why is it lately that every time there's any slashdot story about any research whatever, somebody has to pipe in that it's "just another article about someone getting research money"?
The picture in the article ... (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm just glad this goo is orange and not grey [wikipedia.org].
Good marketing team (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Seriously sounds legit to me. From TFA:
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Good marketing team (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
It's not really much different from that, which is exactly why it is interesting! Natural phenomena solve some of the hardest problems in computation, just by doing what they normally do.
The trick is controlling that process to get it to solve things we are interested in.
I, for one... (Score:2)
Umm... (Score:2, Insightful)
This mould, or plasmodium, is a naturally occurring substance with its own embedded intelligence. It propagates and searches for sources of nutrients and when it finds such sources it branches out in a series of veins of protoplasm.
Does this worry anyone else?
Re: (Score:2)
Two words: Trapper Keeper.
Re:Umm... (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re:Umm... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah. Sounds about as interesting as using sunflower heads to keep solar cells pointed at the sun. Sure, you can probably do it, but does it accomplish anything practically?
I.e., tell me when they've done something interesting. In the meantime, they're just watching mold do what mold normally does.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
No, this sounds like it's a normal mold.
Nope, normal molds are fungi. Slime molds aren't molds at all. They used to be considered in the now-defunct Protist kingdom, but that's not a monophyletic grouping, so it's been split up into several different kingdoms (although the exact classification is still the subject of some debate).
The most popular current taxonomy puts slime molds into several kingdoms, with plasmodial slime molds (the case at hand) in the kingdom Amoebozoa alongside amoebas (among others)
Well I, for one... (Score:2, Funny)
I, for one, welcome our new smelly, slimy, moldy robotic overlords....ewww....
Molderama (Score:2)
Re:Molderama (Score:4, Funny)
I noticed a tiny mistake in TFS. Since it's British, they should have spelled it "mould", becauuse American mold is so different. British mold doesn't even have color -- it has colours.
Parent
And? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:And? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
"Hackers used banned mould robots to conquer cheese factories in Wisconsin and France. News at Eleven.
Looking down, the plate of nachos you ordered suddenly doesn't look so appealing. It looks less appealing as it leaps up from the
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Roll for initiative, please.
Man, if there's ever a situation where I'd be okay with the GM assuming I'm caught off guard, it's when my own plate of nachos leaps up and attacks my face. The only way I could be more surprised would be if the Long Island Ice Tea I bought tried to sober me up.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Nice and simple answer to that FTA: "Researchers have received a Leverhulme Trust grant worth £228,000 to develop the amorphous non-silicon biological robot".
At the risk of getting modded "redundant", this really doesn't sound like much of a "discovery", much less a "robot". At best, IF they came up with a novel way to arrange food around it to solve NP-complete problems, you could call it a type of massively parallel processor. Possibly, with a rea
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Not Really a Robot (Score:5, Interesting)
That's like saying that the bamboo plant on my desk is a robot. It, too, transports substances in a direction determined by light input, and computes the optimal direction for approaching a light source. I could even claim that I'm adding "logic gates" to it by covering or pruning certain leaves.
Says the article, the mold robot has "the number crunching power of super computers" because it carries out computing tasks. That claim is also pretty silly. The A* algorithm can find the shortest distance between paths, and it doesn't require anything that could be called a supercomputer today.
So, this thing is a "robot" in the sense that pointing at random objects and calling yourself a master of "found art" is art.
Re:Not Really a Robot (Score:5, Informative)
What is the point of this article?
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Controlling them? (Score:4, Funny)
Cold Sweats (Score:2)
>"and programmable amorphous intelligent robot with an embedded massively parallel computer."
Now see, it's that bit, the bit about it being fully controllable that makes me nervous. Why did they feel the need to put that bit in. Slimy mold; intelligent, massively parallel processing robot... fully controllable, yes but by whom and for how long.
Re:Cold Sweats (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Real Research (Score:3, Informative)
Allergies! (Score:2, Funny)
What about insurance? (Score:2)
Will Old Glory Insurance provide a policy for this new menace?
In the meantime, I am putting my medicine under lock and key!
Bender (Score:3)
Bite my slimey moldy ass!
Interesting Background Material (Score:5, Interesting)
From an unlikely source: PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez [nih.gov]
Search terms "plasmodium Physarum polycephalum"
I went looking for negative stuff, knowing plasmodiums were behind malaria. Couldn't find any for this stuff, but I did find some juicy bits from biomedical science regarding its computational ability, or rather its internal processes that can be used as such. Not many will be able to get the referenced material, but just the abstracts are tasty.
Re:Interesting Background Material (Score:5, Interesting)
The plasmodium behind malaria is not the same kind of plasmodium. IIRC, malaria is caused by a sporozoan, which is completely different from a slime mould. In fact, plasmodium is not even a kind of slime mould. In reference to slime moulds, plasmodium is just the macroscopic form of any slime mould.
Parent
Re:Interesting Background Material (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
In reference to slime moulds, plasmodium is just the macroscopic form of any slime mould.
Not _any_ slime mold. Plasmodial slime molds are one small grouping of slime molds.
Dictyostelids, for instance, are unicellular slime molds. Plasmodiums have many (often millions) nuclei in one cell membrane. Dictyostelids maintain cellular structure--their macroscopic form is not a plasmodium, though they do form a "pseudoplasmodium" that kind of looks like a plasmodium.
And that's just the plasmodials and the dictyo
GPF Software (Score:2)
Tagging the story? (Score:2)
How do you put a "Shoggoth" tag onto a story? This sounds like something straight out of "At the Mountains of Madness".
Meh (Score:3, Funny)
I'm rich!!! (Score:3, Funny)
Cough, cough (Score:2, Funny)
Is it appropriate to lichen this bizarre construction to a robot? And I have to wonder whether it would be constructed from custom built components, or would they would have to come from a mold.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
In spite of what some sour little "toad's tool" with mod points and a lack of morels seems to believe, Slashdot always has shroom for a little humour.
Sci-Fi Plot? (Score:2)
ObNethack (Score:5, Funny)
..@F.....
.........
You hit the brown mold. You are suddenly very cold!
Beowulf cluster... (Score:3, Funny)
or moldy loaf of sliced bread? You decide!
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Why is it lately that every time there's any slashdot story about any research whatever, somebody has to pipe in that it's "just another article about someone getting research money"?
What's the matter, can't get your project funded?
Re: (Score:2)
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Then hire a bullshitter! Or come up with an interesting hypothesis you want to test.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)