Building a robot takes time, technical expertise, the suitable materials — and sometimes, a bit of fungus.
In constructing a pair of recent robots, Cornell University researchers cultivated an unexpected ingredient found on the forest floor: fungal mycelia. Using mycelia's natural electrical signals, researchers discovered a brand new method to control “bio-hybrid” robots that might potentially reply to their environment higher than their purely synthetic counterparts.
Published within the team's paper. The lead writer is Anand Mishra, a research associate within the Organic Robotics Lab led by Rob Shepherd, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell University, and senior writer of the paper.
“This paper is the first of many that will use the fungal kingdom to provide environmental sensing and command signals to robots to improve their level of autonomy,” Shepherd said. “By growing mycelium into a robot's electronics, we were able to make the bio-hybrid machine understand and respond to the environment. In this case we used light as input, but in the future it may be chemical. Future robots could understand soil chemistry in row crops and decide when to apply more fertilizer, for example, perhaps reducing the downstream effects of agriculture such as harmful algal blooms. “
Mycelia are a part of the underground vegetation of mushrooms. They have the flexibility to sense chemical and biological signals and reply to multiple inputs.
“Living systems respond to touch, they respond to light, they respond to heat, they also respond to something unknown, like signals,” Mishra said. “If you want to build robots of the future, how can they operate in unpredictable environments? We can take advantage of these living systems, and any unknown input comes in, the robot will respond to it.”
Two bio-hybrid robots were created: a soft robot shaped like a spider and a wheeled bot.
The robots accomplished three experiments. In the primary, the robot moved and rotated, respectively, as a response to the natural constant increase within the mycelia's signal. The researchers then stimulated the robots with ultraviolet light, causing them to alter their movements, demonstrating the mycelia's ability to reply to its environment. In a 3rd scenario, the researchers were capable of completely override the mycelia's ancestral signal.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) CROPPS Science and Technology Center; US Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture; and the NSF signal in soil program.