Not Bot, Not Beast: Scientists Create First Ever Living, Programmable Organism

A remarkable combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and biology has produced the world's first "living robots." This week, a research team of roboticists and scientists published their recipe for making a new lifeform called xenobots from stem cells. The term "xeno" comes from the frog cells (Xenopus laevis) used to make them. One of the researchers described the creation as "neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal," but a "new class of artifact: a living, programmable organism." Xenobots are less than 1 millimeter long and made of 500-1,000 living cells.