![]() Other kinds of motors and sensors have been incorporated into xenobots. They can survive for weeks without food and heal themselves after lacerations. Xenobots have been designed to walk, swim, push pellets, carry payloads, and work together in a swarm to aggregate debris scattered along the surface of their dish into neat piles. The shape of a xenobot's body, and its distribution of skin and heart cells, are automatically designed in simulation to perform a specific task, using a process of trial and error (an evolutionary algorithm). The skin cells provide rigid support and the heart cells act as small motors, contracting and expanding in volume to propel the xenobot forward. Skin cells and heart muscle cells, both of which are derived from stem cells harvested from early ( blastula stage) frog embryos. Xenobots built to date have been less than 1 millimeter (0.039 inches) wide and composed of just two things: ![]() The first xenobots were built by Douglas Blackiston according to blueprints generated by an AI program, which was developed by Sam Kriegman.
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