These robots move through the magic of mushrooms

Researchers at Cornell University tapped into fungal mycelia to power a pair of proof-of-concept robots. Mycelia, the underground fungal network that can sprout mushrooms as its above-ground fruit, can sense light and chemical reactions and communicate through electrical signals. This makes it a novel component in hybrid robotics that could someday detect crop conditions otherwise invisible to humans. The Cornell researchers created two robots: a soft, spider-like one and a four-wheeled buggy. The researchers used mycelia's light-sensing abilities to control the machines using ultraviolet light.