Scientists have discovered a new way of controlling robots by using mycelium – the fungal network attached to the roots of mushrooms.

Researchers at Cornell University and the University of Florence created a pair of new robots, one shaped like a starfish and the other on wheels, and then grew mycelium into the electronics.

The fungus then responded to different light conditions, triggering electrical impulses and making the robots move.

The fact fungal networks are alive and thrive in all sorts of conditions makes them ideal for controlling robots in unexpected environments.

“Living systems respond to touch, they respond to light, they respond to heat, they respond to even some unknowns, like signals,” said the study’s lead author Anand Mishra from Cornell’s Organic Robotics Lab.

“That’s why we think, OK, if you wanted to build future robots, how can they work in an unexpected environment? We can leverage these living systems, and any unknown input [that] comes in, the robot will respond to that.”

The robots walked and rolled in response to the natural spikes in the fungus’s signals.

China’s robotic dogs still a novelty to most – as firms grapple with military using tech as weapons

Robot dentist performs world’s first fully automated procedure

Scientists attach living skin to robots to make them smile

Read more from science and technology:
Talented dogs can remember names of toys for years
Strange noises heard from faulty Boeing spacecraft
‘Mobile phone use doesn’t increase brain cancer risk’

Then the researchers used ultraviolet light to stimulate them, which caused them to change the way the robots moved.

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

This demonstrated the fungus’s ability to react to their environment.

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free

“In this case we used light as the input, but in the future it will be chemical,” said the study’s senior author Rob Shepherd.

“The potential for future robots could be to sense soil chemistry in row crops and decide when to add more fertiliser, for example, perhaps mitigating downstream effects of agriculture like harmful algal blooms.”

Related posts:

What is a heat dome? Record-breaking weather system hits US and Canada FIFA 2022 hits UK shelves – and shakes up eSports Administrator for darknet market Silk Road ordered to forfeit £490,000 in Bitcoin US Navy investigators identify ‘unknown object’ behind South China Sea nuclear submarine collision New time-lapse shows how Earth has changed since iconic ‘Blue Marble’ Elon Musk: A timeline of his most recent controversial moments The AI chatbot that changed the world: The first year of ChatGPT Machine designed to replicate the conditions inside a burning star shutting down Odysseus lander spacecraft seen on the moon with broken leg in dramatic new pictures Apple, Meta and Google parent company investigated by EU Tesla Cybertruck buyers reporting delivery delays over ‘windscreen wipers issue’ Self-driving cars found to be safer – except at dawn, dusk, or when turning