Slime Robot Moved by Fear
Robot moved by a slime mould’s fears
New Scientist: A bright yellow slime mould that can grow to several metres in diameter has been put in charge of a scrabbling, six-legged robot. The Physarum polycephalum slime, which naturally shies away from light, controls the robot’s movement so that it too keeps out of light and seeks out dark places in which to hide itself.
Klaus-Peter Zauner at the University of Southampton, UK, who developed the slime-controlled bot with colleagues from Kobe University in south-central Japan, says the idea is to find simpler ways to control a robot’s behaviour….
They grew slime in a six-pointed star shape on top of a circuit and connected it remotely, via a computer, to the hexapod bot…more…
Hmmmm, a “Slime Robot Moved by Fear”…. Gee, that sounds like me or any Japanese salaryman.
Read the full scientific paper.
UPDATE: Alternatively, you get read the comments from the kids at Slashdot since now this story has gone bigtime.
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