Xenobots – living robots made from frog cells, for Bloomberg Businessweek
January 31, 2022

Douglas Blackiston holds a petri dish full of Xenobots, micro-scale "living robots" made from embryonic frog stem cells, in a lab at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, on Thu., Sept. 9, 2021. Blackiston is a Senior Scientist at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, and Sam Kriegman, the other scientist involved in the creation of xenobots, is a postdoctoral fellow at the Weiss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. Kriegman designed the artificial intelligence system that created the structure for the xenobots and Blackiston is responsible for building them. As Blackiston put it, "Sam tests [the robots and other experimental setups] in the virtual world, and then I test it in the real world." The machines are capable of autonomously performing simple tasks including navigating mazes and gathering small particles together.
Douglas Blackiston, part of the team that developed Xenobots, a micro-scale "living robot" made from frog embryo stem cells, at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, uses a fluorescence microscope to look at Xenobots in his laboratory in Medford, Massachusetts, on Thu., Sept. 9, 2021. Blackiston is a Senior Scientist at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. Sam Kriegman, the other part of the team, is a postdoctoral fellow at the Weiss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. Kriegman designed the artificial intelligence system that created the structure for the xenobots and Blackiston is responsible for building them. As Blackiston put it, "Sam tests [the robots and other experimental setups] in the virtual world, and then I test it in the real world." The machines are capable of autonomously performing simple tasks including navigating mazes and gathering small particles together.

For Bloomberg Businessweek, I spent an afternoon in the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University with scientists Sam Kriegman and Douglas Blackiston, who developed Xenobots, micro-scale "living robots" made from frog embryo stem cells.Kriegman designed the artificial intelligence system that created the structure for the xenobots and Blackiston is responsible for building them. As Blackiston put it, "Sam tests [the robots and other experimental setups] in the virtual world, and then I test it in the real world." The machines are capable of autonomously performing simple tasks including navigating mazes and gathering small particles together.

A big thanks to Jane and Dietmar at Bloomberg for the assignment!

Sam Kriegman (right) and Douglas Blackiston are the team that developed Xenobots, a micro-scale "living robot" made from frog embryo stem cells, at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, seen here in the Microinjection room in their laboratory in Medford, Massachusetts, on Thu., Sept. 9, 2021. Kriegman is a postdoctoral fellow at the Weiss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. Blackiston is a Senior Scientist at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. Kriegman designed the artificial intelligence system that created the structure for the xenobots and Blackiston is responsible for building them. As Blackiston put it, "Sam tests [the robots and other experimental setups] in the virtual world, and then I test it in the real world." The machines are capable of autonomously performing simple tasks including navigating mazes and gathering small particles together.
Douglas Blackiston uses microsurgery forceps to sculpt away part of three-day-old embryonic frog stem cells to make Xenobots, micro-scale "living robots," in a petri dish under a dissecting microscope at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, on Thu., Sept. 9, 2021. The robots were made by Douglas Blackiston, a Senior Scientist at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, and Sam Kriegman, a postdoctoral fellow at the Weiss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. Kriegman designed the artificial intelligence system that created the structure for the xenobots and Blackiston is responsible for building them. As Blackiston put it, "Sam tests [the robots and other experimental setups] in the virtual world, and then I test it in the real world." The machines are capable of autonomously performing simple tasks including navigating mazes and gathering small particles together.
Xenobots, micro-scale "living robots" made from embryonic frog stem cells, float in a petri dish in a lab at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, on Thu., Sept. 9, 2021. The robots were created by Douglas Blackiston, a Senior Scientist at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, and Sam Kriegman, a postdoctoral fellow at the Weiss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. Kriegman designed the artificial intelligence system that created the structure for the xenobots and Blackiston is responsible for building them. As Blackiston put it, "Sam tests [the robots and other experimental setups] in the virtual world, and then I test it in the real world." The machines are capable of autonomously performing simple tasks including navigating mazes and gathering small particles together.
Three-day-old embryonic frog stem cells used to make Xenobots, micro-scale "living robots," are seen in a petri dish under a dissecting microscope at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, on Thu., Sept. 9, 2021. The robots were made by Douglas Blackiston, a Senior Scientist at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, and Sam Kriegman, a postdoctoral fellow at the Weiss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. Kriegman designed the artificial intelligence system that created the structure for the xenobots and Blackiston is responsible for building them. As Blackiston put it, "Sam tests [the robots and other experimental setups] in the virtual world, and then I test it in the real world." The machines are capable of autonomously performing simple tasks including navigating mazes and gathering small particles together.
Sam Kriegman holds acrylic mazes used to evaluate the behavior of Xenobots, micro-scale "living robots" made from embryonic frog stem cells, are seen in a lab at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, on Thu., Sept. 9, 2021. The robots were created by Douglas Blackiston, a Senior Scientist at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, and Sam Kriegman, a postdoctoral fellow at the Weiss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. Kriegman designed the artificial intelligence system that created the structure for the xenobots and Blackiston is responsible for building them. As Blackiston put it, "Sam tests [the robots and other experimental setups] in the virtual world, and then I test it in the real world." The machines are capable of autonomously performing simple tasks including navigating mazes and gathering small particles together.
Douglas Blackiston is part of the team that developed Xenobots, a micro-scale "living robot" made from frog embryo stem cells, at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, seen here in the microscopy suite in his laboratory in Medford, Massachusetts, on Thu., Sept. 9, 2021. Blackiston is a Senior Scientist at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. Sam Kriegman, the other part of the team, is a postdoctoral fellow at the Weiss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. Kriegman designed the artificial intelligence system that created the structure for the xenobots and Blackiston is responsible for building them. As Blackiston put it, "Sam tests [the robots and other experimental setups] in the virtual world, and then I test it in the real world." The machines are capable of autonomously performing simple tasks including navigating mazes and gathering small particles together.
Three-day-old embryonic frog stem cells used to make Xenobots, micro-scale "living robots," are seen in a petri dish under a dissecting microscope at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, on Thu., Sept. 9, 2021. The robots were made by Douglas Blackiston, a Senior Scientist at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, and Sam Kriegman, a postdoctoral fellow at the Weiss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. Kriegman designed the artificial intelligence system that created the structure for the xenobots and Blackiston is responsible for building them. As Blackiston put it, "Sam tests [the robots and other experimental setups] in the virtual world, and then I test it in the real world." The machines are capable of autonomously performing simple tasks including navigating mazes and gathering small particles together.
Sam Kriegman's laptop displays the computer model (left) and an image of an actual Xenobot, a micro-scale "living robots" made from embryonic frog stem cells, in a lab at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, on Thu., Sept. 9, 2021. The design on the left was created by an artificial intelligence system and then used to create the actual robots. The robots were created by Douglas Blackiston, a Senior Scientist at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, and Sam Kriegman, a postdoctoral fellow at the Weiss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. Kriegman designed the artificial intelligence system that created the structure for the xenobots and Blackiston is responsible for building them. As Blackiston put it, "Sam tests [the robots and other experimental setups] in the virtual world, and then I test it in the real world." The machines are capable of autonomously performing simple tasks including navigating mazes and gathering small particles together.
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