A new study looked at how California black worms work together to form "worm blobs" in order to model their behavior in moving swarms of simple robots. The "blob" formation, which can range in size from 10 to 50,000 worms, serves to protect the creatures from drying out and withstanding threats like strong heat.
The researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology focused on how thousands of the worms (Lumbriculus variegatus), about a centimeter in length each, can intertwine into an "active matter," which behaves as one. This self-organized shape-shifting blob allows the worms to achieve much more complex outcomes together than they would without getting hitched up.
The work promises to help engineers working on swarm robots to understand and adapt the mechanics of how such blobs behave.
Saad Bhamla, an assistant professor at Georgia Tech's School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, highlighted that being in a group is beneficial to the worms' survival:
"We were curious about why these worms would form these living blobs," said Bhamla. "We have now shown through mathematical models and biological experiments that forming the blobs confers a kind of collective decision-making that enables worms in a larger blob to survive longer against desiccation."
The scientists also showed that the worms in a blob can move together, exhibiting unique collective behavior. The capabilities of the blob are much more than anything the individuals can do on their own. Studying these blobs helps researchers who are looking to transfer the key traits of living systems to ones designed by humans. Swarm robots, in particular, are built around the idea that individual robots must collaborate to be able to engage in complex actions.
Collective worm and robot "blobs" protect individuals, swarm together
The worms were studied closely by the research associate Yasemin Ozkan-Aydi, whose experiments included testing the blob's responsiveness to temperature and light changes and creating a "worm gymnasium", which allowed her to gauge the strength of the worms. To create a worm blob, she took the worms out of water. When they couldn't find the water, they came together in a ball-like blob. The worms would trade off on who would be on the outside of the blob, where most evaporation took place. This allowed the collective to suffer less of an effect from the lack of liquid. The researchers concluded that being in a blob helped the worms survive 10 times longer when being out of water, compared to individual worms.
Georgia Tech research associate Yasemin Ozkan-Aydin holds a smarticle blob as Georgia Tech Assistant Professor Saad Bhamla holds a worm blob.
Credit: Christopher Moore, Georgia Tech
Professor Daniel Goldman, in whose lab these experiments were carried out, pointed to the unexpected smartness of what the worms did.
"They would certainly want to reduce desiccation, but the way in which they would do this is not obvious and points to a kind of collective intelligence in the system," explained Goldman. "They are not just surface-minimizing machines. They are looking to exploit good conditions and resources."
This intelligence of the worms was also on display in heat experiments, where the cooperation between the worms in the blob allowed them to slink away from hot spots, dramatically improving their survival chances. Moving as a blob, 95% of the worms made it to the cold side.
Ozkan-Aydin incorporated the observations of worm behavior into small robotic blobs made of "smart active particles" or "smarticles." She pinned six 3D-printed robots which featured two arms and two light sensors in a mesh, essentially entangling them similarly to the worms. She then programmed and tested different movements the robots could perform, finding that the robot swarms "generate emergent behavior that is similar to what we saw in the worms."
You can check out the new study "Collective dynamics in entangled worm and robot blobs" published in PNAS, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Related Articles Around the Web
View post:
Scientists study moving worm "blobs" to create robot swarms - Big Think
- Twitter Working on Plan to Charge Users to Watch Videos - November 4th, 2022
- Manslaughter Case Has a Strange Twist: Tesla That Killed Couple Was on Autopilot - November 4th, 2022
- Greta Thunberg Says UN Climate Conference Is a Scam and She's Not Attending - November 4th, 2022
- There's Something Strange About How These Stars Are Moving, Scientists Say - November 4th, 2022
- This Deepfake AI Singing Dolly Parton's "Jolene" Is Worryingly Good - November 4th, 2022
- NASA Sets Launch Date for Mission to $10 Quintillion Asteroid - November 4th, 2022
- Huge Drone Swarm to Form Giant Advertisement Over NYC Skyline - November 4th, 2022
- China Plans to Send Monkeys to Space Station to Have Sex With Each Other - November 4th, 2022
- Jeff Bezos' Housekeeper Says She Had to Climb Out the Window to Use the Bathroom - November 4th, 2022
- AOC Says Her Twitter Account Broke After She Made Fun of Elon Musk - November 4th, 2022
- Scientists Use Actual Lunar Soil Sample to Create Rocket Fuel - November 4th, 2022
- Chinese Spaceplane Releases Mystery Object Into Orbit - November 4th, 2022
- Cats May Be Tampering With Crime Scenes, Scientists Say - November 4th, 2022
- Hackers Just Took Down One of the World's Most Advanced Telescopes - November 4th, 2022
- Elon Musk Meeting With Advertisers, Begging Them Not to Leave Twitter - November 4th, 2022
- That "Research" About How Smartphones Are Causing Deformed Human Bodies Is SEO Spam, You Idiots - November 4th, 2022
- Scientists Found a Way to Control How High Mice Got on Cocaine - November 4th, 2022
- Scientists Spot "Stripped, Pulsating Core" of Star Caused By Horrific Accident - November 4th, 2022
- US Gov to Crack Down on "Bossware" That Spies On Employees' Computers - November 4th, 2022
- Micro and Nano Engineering - Journal - Elsevier - June 29th, 2022
- Arduino Nano Library for Proteus - The Engineering Projects - June 29th, 2022
- People | Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE), IISc - June 29th, 2022
- Forge Nano and Anovion Partner to Help Propel US Battery Tech and Strengthen Domestic Supply Chain - GlobeNewswire - June 29th, 2022
- Stanford engineers' optical concentrator could help solar arrays capture more light even on a cloudy day without tracking the Sun - EurekAlert - June 29th, 2022
- Nanotechnology Market 2022 Detailed Analysis Of Current Industry Demand with Forecasts Growth by 2028 Designer Women - Designer Women - June 29th, 2022
- Why is the Weebit Nano share price charging 5% higher today? - The Motley Fool Australia - June 29th, 2022
- Determining Ways to Combine the Power Conversion and Storage Capacity Needs of Solar Energy Into One Device - AZoCleantech - June 29th, 2022
- New method based on smart materials for experimenting with cells - Nanowerk - June 29th, 2022
- The Ecosystem: leather is so over, but what comes next? - Science Business - June 29th, 2022
- Aalto University scoops 18M in Academy of Finland research funding - Science Business - June 29th, 2022
- 50 Percent of Women in STEM Careers Ready to Join Great Resignation in New Gotara REACH Report - PR Web - June 29th, 2022
- Meet our Sustainability Awards Jury & see what they think about the 2022 program - Architecture and Design - June 29th, 2022
- Announcing Six Winners of the Third Annual Manning/IALS Innovation Awards : Institute for Applied Life Sciences - UMass News and Media Relations - November 13th, 2021
- Lecturer Positions in Intelligent Systems Engineering job with Indiana University Bloomington / Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and... - November 13th, 2021
- Pressure BioSciences Awarded Second U.S. Patent for Its Revolutionary Ultra Shear Technology Platform, for Its Innovative NanoGap Valve - Yahoo... - November 13th, 2021
- Novel Imaging Technique Takes High Resolution 3D Images of Cells - AZoNano - November 13th, 2021
- "Dialogues between world Laureates and Gen-Z" was successfully held: an event focusing on Gen Z and the future of Science - PRNewswire - November 13th, 2021
- NVIDIA Announces Jetson AGX Orin: Modules and Dev Kits Coming In Q1'22 - AnandTech - November 13th, 2021
- Research on Food and Beverage Air Filtration Market Key Data Points Necessary for Effective Strategies | 3M, APC Filtration, Camfil Group, Donaldson... - November 13th, 2021
- Scientists invent 'smart' window material that blocks rays without blocking views - Nanowerk - November 13th, 2021
- How can Australia get cracking on emissions? The know-how we need is in our universities - The Conversation AU - November 13th, 2021
- Machine learning links material composition and performance in catalysts - Nanowerk - August 24th, 2021
- What Is Nanotechnology And How Is It Impacting Neuroscience? - Forbes - August 24th, 2021
- Could Nanotechnology Help to End the Fight Against COVID-19? | IJN - Dove Medical Press - August 24th, 2021
- Are Radioactive Diamond Batteries the Solution to Nuclear Waste? - Interesting Engineering - August 24th, 2021
- Updating the PLOS ONE Nanomaterials Collection Author Perspectives, Part 2 - EveryONE - PLoS Blogs - August 24th, 2021
- Scientists Develop Woven Nanotube Fibers Capable of Converting Heat into Energy - AZoNano - August 24th, 2021
- This engineer is searching for signs of life in the clouds of Venus - Create - create digital - August 24th, 2021
- Ultra-Low IQ PMIC from ROHM Selected to Power NXP iMX8M Nano for High Performance Embedded Artists Industrial Control Board - EE Journal - February 20th, 2021
- Perseverance touches down on Mars and Jaguar going electric: 10 top stories of the week - Professional Engineering - February 20th, 2021
- mHealth Wearable Boosts Remote Patient Monitoring, Connected Health - mHealthIntelligence.com - February 20th, 2021
- New Skin Patch Brings Us Closer to Wearable, All-In-One Health Monitor - I-Connect007 - February 20th, 2021
- Next: Superconducting nanowires could be used in circuits - Electronics Weekly - February 20th, 2021
- 4 UCSD Researchers Win Sloan Research Fellowships for Early Career Scientists - Times of San Diego - February 20th, 2021
- Pendse named 2021 Distinguished Maine Professor - UMaine News - University of Maine - University of Maine - February 20th, 2021
- New Polymer Cores Added to Windows Could Solve Energy Issues for Buildings - AZoBuild - February 20th, 2021
- Caltech Professor Inducted into the National Academy of Engineering Pasadena Now - Pasadena Now - February 15th, 2021
- How Nanotechnology Has Improved the Auto Industry - Salon Priv Magazine - February 15th, 2021
- Caltech: Tai Inducted into the National Academy of Engineering - India Education Diary - February 15th, 2021
- Plastic-nanotube composite 'tougher and lighter than similar forms of aluminium' - Professional Engineering - February 15th, 2021
- New coalmine questioned and high-density hydro planned: 10 top stories of the week - Professional Engineering - February 15th, 2021
- Riding the Funding Wave: These DFW Startups Got the Money in 2020 Dallas Innovates - dallasinnovates.com - February 15th, 2021
- UVA Honors Distinguished Researchers at Virtual Awards Event - University of Virginia - February 4th, 2021
- Nanostructure of the Anodic and Nanomaterials Sol-Gel Based Materials Application: Advances in Surface Engineering - Products Finishing Magazine - December 19th, 2020
- Evelyn Hu delivers 2020 Dresselhaus Lecture on leveraging defects at the nanoscale - MIT News - December 19th, 2020
- COVID-19 airborne transmission research suggests potential therapies | University of Hawaii System News - UH System Current News - December 19th, 2020
- Engineers awarded for ongoing research excellence - News - The University of Sydney - December 19th, 2020
- New Horizons for research through new adventurous research projects - The University of Manchester - December 19th, 2020
- New collaboration provides opportunity for future water scientists and engineers - Cranfield University - December 19th, 2020
- First of its kind at U of T: MIE launches specialized course in 3D printing - U of T Engineering News - December 19th, 2020
- How Integrated Operations is Using a Breakthrough Misting Technology to Stop the Spread of Deadly Viruses and Bacteria - Iosco County News Herald - October 30th, 2020
- Senior Research Assistant in Experimental Condensed Matter Physics job with THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG | 230871 - Times Higher Education (THE) - October 30th, 2020
- Small Satellite Market Size to Hit USD 9.75 Billion by 2027; Presence of Several Large Scale Companies will have a Positive Impact on Market Growth,... - October 30th, 2020
- Impact Of Covid 19 On 3D Print Materials Industry 2020 Market Challenges, Business Overview And Forecast Research Study 2026 - The Think Curiouser - October 30th, 2020
- The U.S. Finally Has a Sputnik Moment With China - Foreign Policy - October 30th, 2020
- Medtronic Announces Adaptix Interbody System, the First Navigated Titanium Cage with Titan nanoLOCK Surface Technology - BioSpace - October 10th, 2020
- Nanocoolant Alternative for Cooling Elements by UMP Researchers - QS WOW News - October 10th, 2020
- Post Pandemic Nano Gas Sensor Market Size to Reach USD XX Million Billion by 2027 Analysis by Top Manufacturers Raytheon Company, Ball Aerospace and... - October 10th, 2020
- IISc Bengaluru researchers discover nanomotors can lead to early detection of cancer cells - The Indian Express - October 10th, 2020
- Breakout Paper in Journal of Theoretical Biology Explicitly Supports Intelligent Design - Discovery Institute - October 10th, 2020