Xenobots 2.0 were formed from stem cells extracted from frog embryos and allowed to develop without relying on the algorithm. Independently, the cells began to develop entirely novel body plans. Hair-like motile cilia grew all over their surfaces – a feature usually found in the lungs, but these cilia were more like limbs, flailing rapidly to allow the xenobot to swim through its environment. In this video, a xenobot navigates a pretzel-shaped maze without touching the sides. Rather than building a tadpole, the stem cells responded to the unique conditions of the laboratory environment to build bodies totally unlike their amphibian origins. They self-assembled spontaneously, leap-frogging (as it were) evolution. Looking for a way to improve the xenobots’ performance further, Blackiston and his team asked the AI to come up with an improved design. The AI blueprint produced Pacman-shaped xenobots with indentations that look like mouths. This third generation had a further surprise: by gathering hundreds of stem-cells in their “mouths” they could mould new xenobots (as shown in the image at the top of this page). They had, in other words, evolved an entirely new way to reproduce, unlike anything seen elsewhere in nature. Future generations could be developed by designing the environments they interact with… (READ MORE)

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