A bright yellow slime mould that can grow to several metres in diameter has been put in charge of a scrabbling, six-legged robot.
The Physarum polycephalum slime, which naturally shies away from light, controls the robot’s movement so that it too keeps out of light and seeks out dark places in which to hide itself.
Biology is already influencing the evolution of robots in other ways. For example ~ a collaboration between the Bristol University and the University of the West of England, have developed robots that generate power by consuming flies.