Scientists make history by creating living robots that can reproduce

'No animal or plant known to science replicates in this way'

Scientists have created robots that can reproduce independently - and frankly, we have just one question: Oh God, why? The creators behind our soon-to-be robotic overlords, Dr Douglas Blackiston and Dr Sam Kriegman, clearly haven't watched The Terminator, I, Robot - or literally any of the many movies where robots take control of the world and leave us puny humans running for our lives. [caption id="attachment_303255" align="alignnone" width="988"] Not quite The Terminator but still, give it time/Via Dr Douglas Blackiston and Dr Sam Kriegman[/caption] Made up of skin cells and heart muscle cells from frog embryos, these Frankenstein creations are called Xenobots. Come to think of it, that name is relatively easy to scream when they inevitably start destroying humanity. A report published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science says that the Xenobots were seen moving, pushing - and even carrying objects. Brilliant, just brilliant. Co-author Professor Michael Levin suggests that the Xenobots could be the solution to "traumatic injury, birth defects, cancer and ageing", while others are suggesting they could be used to clean up the environment. This monumental invention could change the world as we know it, for better or for worse. "We find that synthetic multicellular assemblies can also replicate kinematically by moving and compressing dissociated cells in their environment into functional self-copies," the study reads. "This form of perpetuation, previously unseen in any organism, arises spontaneously over days rather than evolving over millennia. [caption id="attachment_303257" align="alignnone" width="1004"] They were created by an AI supercomputer/Via Dr Douglas Blackiston and Dr Sam Kriegman[/caption] "People have thought for quite a long time that we've worked out all the ways that life can reproduce or replicate," said Dr Blackiston via iflscience. "But this is something that's never been observed before." Dr Kriegman continued: "These are frog cells replicating in a way that is very different from how frogs do it. No animal or plant known to science replicates in this way." However upon noticing that the robots would die, the scientists kicked it up a notch and decided to play God. Naturally, the wannabe-life-givers consulted an AI supercomputer and after months of calculations, it released a blueprint that the Xenobots could be made from. Dr Kriegman said: "It's very non-intuitive. It looks very simple, but it's not something a human engineer would come up with. We sent the results to Doug and he built these Pac-Man-shaped parent Xenobots. "Then those parents built children, who built grandchildren, who built great-grandchildren, who built great-great-grandchildren." The robots have been checked by third parties that include ethics committees and federal bodies. The scientists have also insisted that they have complete control over the robots, which is not worrying at all.

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