Yeah, at first I was a little disappointed as well when I realized it wasn't "actually" using the bacteria.
But given the amount of publicity this has gotten, it is probably not too long until someone with the actual hardware is inspired to do something similar
I’ve always been excited about Biocomputing. I think that it is a super cool, yet very sci-fi idea. Everyone once in awhile I see things like this and it keeps the dream alive
Xenobots built to date have been less than 1 millimeter (0.04 inches) wide and composed of just two things: skin cells and heart muscle cells, both of which are derived from stem cells harvested from early (blastula stage) frog embryos.[7] The skin cells provide rigid support and the heart cells act as small motors, contracting and expanding in volume to propel the xenobot forward. The shape of a xenobot's body, and its distribution of skin and heart cells, are automatically designed in simulation to perform a specific task, using a process of trial and error (an evolutionary algorithm). Xenobots have been designed to walk, swim, push pellets, carry payloads, and work together in a swarm to aggregate debris scattered along the surface of their dish into neat piles. They can survive for weeks without food and heal themselves after lacerations.[2]
Other kinds of motors and sensors have been incorporated into xenobots. Instead of heart muscle, xenobots can grow patches of cilia and use them as small oars for swimming.[8] However, cilia-driven xenobot locomotion is currently less controllable than cardiac-driven xenobot locomotion.[9] An RNA molecule can also be introduced to xenobots to give them molecular memory: if exposed to specific kind of light during behavior, they will glow a prespecified color when viewed under a fluorescence microscope.[9]
Xenobots can also self-replicate. Xenobots can gather loose cells in their environment, forming them into new xenobots with the same capability.[10][11][12]
Looking at the wikipedia page, I think they were built irl. They have many pics comparing “xenobots generated by a computer” to their “created in real life” analogs.
That’s just what I got out of reading the page though, so I would be glad if someone with more subject knowledge could either confirm or deny the correctness of my understanding here.
E Coli is not a deadly food poisoning bacteria; it's an essential part of your gut. There are toxin-producing e coli, and also salmonella, but I don't think those get used in iGEMS competitions.
I'd pitch the short story (really, a fictitious book review) "Eruntics" by Stanislaw Lem. I believe it's published within the "Imaginary Magnitude" Anthology. Published in 1985.
But the payoff is at the end.
>Doing the math, this means that it would take 599 years to run Doom on cells, according to this simulation.
Regardless of where you stand in the regular debate, that's a noticeable framerate drop.