Xenobots

Scientists in the United States have created the world’s first “living machines” — tiny robots built from the cells of the African clawed frog, that can move around on their own. They have named the millimetre-wide robots “xenobots” — after the species of aquatic frog found across sub-Saharan Africa from Nigeria and Sudan to South Africa, Xenopus laevis.

• “Scientists have repurposed living cells scraped from frog embryos and assembled them into entirely new life-forms.”
• The xenobots “can move toward a target, perhaps pick up a payload (like a medicine that needs to be carried to a specific place inside a patient) — and heal themselves after being cut”.

Significance of Xenobots :

• While these “reconfigurable biomachines” could vastly improve human, animal and environmental health, 
• They can also repair themselves after being damaged
• Some speculate they could be used to clean our polluted oceans by collecting microplastics.
• Similarly, they may be used to enter confined or dangerous areas to scavenge toxins or radioactive materials.
• Xenobots designed with carefully shaped “pouches” might be able to carry drugs into human bodies.
• Future versions may be built from a patient’s own cells to repair tissue or target cancers. Being biodegradable, xenobots would have an edge on technologies made of plastic or metal.

Challenge:

• They raise legal and ethical concerns.