Tiny Xenobot robots capable of biologically reproducing a copy of themselves

New Delhi : Advancement of robots is being done every single day, from helping cops in arresting the criminals to serving food in restaurants, robots have advanced very much to become a part of our society. Now, the researchers have developed a new robot that is capable of biologically reproducing its copy.

Yes, you read that right! The new kind of robot uses a novel form of biological self-replication process to create its “children”.

The scientists have named them Xenobots. Details about these robots have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

According to the researchers of the study, the Xenobots can gather hundreds of cells and assemble them into “baby” Xenobots that evolve and start their lives after a few days of being “born”.

“People have thought for quite a long time that we’ve worked out all the ways that life can reproduce or replicate. But this is something that’s never been observed before,” said Douglas Blackiston, one of the co-authors of the study, in a statement.

How does Xenobot reproduce?

The millimeter-wide bots are developed using living cells from frog embryos. So, the living cells from frogs add reproductive capabilities to the non-living Xenobots. However, although a Xenobot can create offspring independently, the machine dies soon after the process.

The ‘baby’ Xenobot has been given a shape of a pac man.