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Biohybrid robots controlled by electrical impulses — in mushrooms
Cornell researchers discovered a new way of controlling biohybrid robots that can react to their environment better than their purely synthetic counterparts: harnessing fungal mycelia’s innate electrical signals.
The potential for future robots could be to sense soil chemistry in row crops and decide when to add more fertilizer, for example, perhaps mitigating downstream effects of agriculture like harmful algal blooms.” In designing the robots of tomorrow, engineers have taken many of their cues from the animal kingdom, with machines that mimic the way living creatures move, sense their environment and even regulate their internal temperature through perspiration. The system Mishra developed consists of an electrical interface that blocks out vibration and electromagnetic interference and accurately records and processes the mycelia’s electrophysiological activity in real time, and a controller inspired by central pattern generators – a kind of neural circuit.
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